How to Use caterpillar in a Sentence

caterpillar

noun
  • Stay alert to caterpillars that feed on the foliage and fruit.
    Tom MacCubbin, OrlandoSentinel.com, 31 Mar. 2018
  • The disease has killed millions of British elm trees, which is the food source for white-letter hairstreak caterpillars.
    Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 19 Feb. 2018
  • Steve, a lifer, talked about his transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
    Neil Senturia, sandiegouniontribune.com, 1 Apr. 2018
  • And plants can communicate with one another and with caterpillars.
    Joanna Klein, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2018
  • You were inspired by the movements of jellyfish and caterpillars and other animals?
    James Gorman, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2018
  • Eighteen-wheelers suddenly come down with the wiggles, like segmented caterpillar pull toys.
    Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2018
  • The filmmakers use micro-filming to get an up-close view of the life of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to the emergence of the mature butterfly.
    David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Apr. 2018
  • President Donald Trump has hair that has been compared to that of one particular caterpillar.
    Jessica Kwong, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2018
  • Clothes moths naturally like closets and wardrobes, with the caterpillars relying on natural fibers like linen, wool, silk, or fur for sustenance.
    Caroline Picard, Good Housekeeping, 31 Jan. 2018
  • Its caterpillar tracks were not reliable enough to operate at such depth, so the company imagined two Archimedes screws to drag its vehicle through the mud.
    The Economist, 8 Mar. 2018
  • Observers credited that to the banner wildflower season that produced a bumper caterpillar crop, a high-protein source of food for the migrating hawks.
    Ernie Cowan, sandiegouniontribune.com, 15 Mar. 2018
  • Hour three will cover the actual process of raising the caterpillars that become monarch butterflies, watching as nature takes its course and being a good steward of the habitat.
    Ginger Brashinger, Daily Southtown, 23 Mar. 2018
  • Like the caterpillar who spins itself into a silky cocoon and turns into a butterfly, so, too, must the Boston Yeti continue to spin into new and beautiful things.
    Steve Annear, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Mar. 2018
  • 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
  • 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
  • This is a native caterpillar and a great food source for birds.
    Ellen Nibali, baltimoresun.com, 12 July 2018
  • Like all moths, the atlas starts first as a caterpillar.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 24 Mar. 2022
  • Place the moth or caterpillar in an airtight container and store in a freezer until the specimen can be picked up by ODA staff.
    Chad Murphy, The Enquirer, 24 May 2024
  • The process is fraught with uncertainty, much like a caterpillar’s journey to becoming a butterfly.
    Joel Goldstein, Forbes, 3 Sep. 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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