How to Use caterpillar in a Sentence

caterpillar

noun
Definition of caterpillarnext
  • The light of the kitchen tinged the caterpillar's skin yellow.
    — Jackie Polzin, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021
  • What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly.
    — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 10 Sep. 2022
  • But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly.
    — Diane J. Cho, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2023
  • About the length of a paper clip, the caterpillar sways its black and bristly body back and forth.
    — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 28 Feb. 2024
  • If the head of the caterpillar is dark, winter will start cold.
    — Lilly St. Angelo, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Those are the cocoons of the wasp larvae that have fed on the caterpillar.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 June 2022
  • For years, a blight of caterpillars had been munching the trees to death.
    — Rachel Riederer, The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
  • The eggs hatch and the tiny green caterpillars start eating.
    — Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 15 July 2019
  • Kids and adults both coo at the sight of a crawling caterpillar.
    — Molly Schools, Discover Magazine, 12 May 2020
  • The gypsy moth is the adult stage of one of the caterpillar species that threaten tree canopies.
    — New York Times, 11 May 2018
  • To rear a caterpillar to the adult stage, see the directions here.
    — oregonlive, 15 Aug. 2021
  • Stay alert to caterpillars that feed on the foliage and fruit.
    — Tom MacCubbin, OrlandoSentinel.com, 31 Mar. 2018
  • Once the tube is cool, the wasp fills the cavity with mud, an egg and a bit of prey, like a caterpillar.
    — Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Dec. 2020
  • So the wasp comes, puts loads of larvae inside of the caterpillars.
    — Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 13 May 2024
  • The mom found a quarter-sized caterpillar crawling on the steps of her front porch.
    — Jennifer Earl, CBS News, 17 May 2017
  • This is a native caterpillar and a great food source for birds.
    — Ellen Nibali, baltimoresun.com, 12 July 2018
  • The caterpillars' fur hides toxic spines that stick to your skin.
    — Jennifer Earl, CBS News, 17 May 2017
  • Like all moths, the atlas starts first as a caterpillar.
    — Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 24 Mar. 2022
  • But this only works on the little ones, not on the full-sized caterpillars.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 14 June 2023
  • The caterpillar is always the stodgy, slow-moving thing confined to the ground.
    — Rose Eveleth, WIRED, 31 Dec. 2022
  • A common pest to watch for is moth caterpillars, which can be hosed off.
    — Kenneth Setzer, miamiherald, 24 May 2017
  • The caterpillar has 13 segments, and is often brown in the middle and black at both ends.
    — Chad Murphy, The Enquirer, 31 Oct. 2024
  • The most recognized is about the brown band between the black bands on either end of the caterpillar.
    — Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 2 Nov. 2021
  • When the eggs hatch, milkweed is the only plant the white, black, and yellow striped caterpillars will eat.
    — Savanna Bous, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Which brings me to the album intro, which centers on the story of the caterpillar.
    — Nerisha Penrose, Billboard, 20 June 2018
  • The tomato hornworm is a large, green caterpillar with a red horn on its rear.
    — Dan Gill, nola.com, 13 Apr. 2019
  • Blue curl is a 3-foot-tall plant that has lavender-blue blooms shaped like a caterpillar.
    — Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 20 Apr. 2018
  • The WntA seems to lay the groundwork for the designs of the wings in the cocoon while the butterflies are still caterpillars.
    — Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 22 Sep. 2017
  • As the legend goes, each segment of the caterpillar corresponds to a different week of winter.
    — Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 7 Nov. 2024
  • Yucca moth caterpillars, kangaroo rats and ground squirrels eat their seeds.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'caterpillar.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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