tent caterpillar
noun
Simple meaning
The larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tehntkatuhpihlerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɛntˈkætəpɪlɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees
entomology
A larva belonging to any of a number of species of moths of the genus Malacosoma, known for destructive infestation of trees in which the leaves are consumed and prominent, silken tent-like structures are constructed in the branches.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees
Used this way, tent caterpillar is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.