The word gadfly has appeared in 29 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 14 in “A Loyal Catholic’s Mission to Protect the Church From Youth Football” by Ken Belson:
As a cradle Catholic whose family foundation has donated millions of dollars to Catholic causes, including Catholic secondary school education and student endowments, he’s an unlikely gadfly.
Doyle’s mission is also personal. He began playing tackle football at 7 and had concussions in grade school, high school and college, leaving the team at Xavier after one especially nasty hit. Doyle wondered whether he might incur the same cognitive and neurological issues that N.F.L. players have faced.
In the four years since he began lobbying church officials, Doyle has urged the archdiocese in his hometown, Cincinnati, to recognize the risks it faces. He hired a Catholic sports law professor to write opinions outlining the archdiocese’s legal exposure by allowing youth football to be played on its property, and sent them to church officials.
Can you correctly use the word gadfly in a sentence?
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