tapeworm

noun

tape·​worm ˈtāp-ˌwərm 

: any of a class (Cestoda) of bilaterally symmetrical flatworms that are parasitic as adults in the intestines of vertebrates including humans and consist of a scolex usually with suckers or hooks followed posteriorly by an undifferentiated neck region from which buds off an often long chain of proglottids

In most instances, adult tapeworms have little visible effect on their hosts except in heavy infections, which may result in anemia, weight loss, and various secondary manifestations.

—Burton J. Bogitsh et al.

called also cestode

Examples of tapeworm in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Then, there’s the co-headmistress of a posh finishing school who entrusts Elvira with a tapeworm that promises to bring her down a few sizes and flush out the hidden beauty within. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2025

Emilie Blichfeldt’s body horror film includes several difficult-to-watch scenes of crude cosmetic surgery, including its protagonist eating a tapeworm, sewing in eyelashes and enduring a barbaric rhinoplasty. —Matt Donnelly, Variety, 24 Jan. 2025

All the spies in The Agency — including Martian's superior (American Fiction's Jeffrey Wright) and his superior (Oh, Canada's Richard Gere) —all seem to harbor in their bowels long, slowly writhing tapeworms of bureaucratic anxiety. —Tom Gliatto, People.com, 20 Dec. 2024

People with a pork tapeworm infection, people who live with someone who has a pork tapeworm and people who consume food made by someone infected with pork tapeworm are more likely to get neurocysticercosis. —Loreben Tuquero, Austin American-Statesman, 13 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

from its shape

First Known Use

1706, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

tapeworm

noun

tape·​worm ˈtāp-ˌwərm 

: any of a group of flatworms that are parasites of the intestines of vertebrate animals including human beings

Medical Definition

tapeworm

noun

tape·​worm ˈtāp-ˌwərm 

: any of the class Cestoda of flatworms that are parasitic as adults in the digestive tract of vertebrates including humans and as larvae in a great variety of vertebrates and invertebrates, that typically consist of an attachment organ usually with suckers, grooves, hooks, or other devices for adhering to the host's intestine followed by an undifferentiated growth region from which buds off a chain of segments of which the anterior members are little more than blocks of tissue, the median members have fully developed organs of both sexes, and the posterior members are degenerated to egg-filled sacs, that have no digestive system and absorb food through the body wall, and that have a nervous system consisting of ganglia and commissures in the scolex and longitudinal cords extending the length of the strobila

called also cestode

see beef tapeworm, cat tapeworm, dog tapeworm, fish tapeworm, fringed tapeworm, pork tapeworm