How to Use caterpillar in a Sentence

caterpillar

noun
  • Law gets mad that the caterpillar looks like a bee.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2026
  • Leaf rollers roll leaves and some caterpillars tie leaves with silk.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Most caterpillars are picky about their host plants.
    — Samantha Johnson, Martha Stewart, 20 June 2026
  • This is a native caterpillar and a great food source for birds.
    — Ellen Nibali, baltimoresun.com, 12 July 2018
  • Kids and adults both coo at the sight of a crawling caterpillar.
    — Molly Schools, Discover Magazine, 12 May 2020
  • If the head of the caterpillar is dark, winter will start cold.
    — Lilly St. Angelo, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Stay alert to caterpillars that feed on the foliage and fruit.
    — Tom MacCubbin, OrlandoSentinel.com, 31 Mar. 2018
  • Pluck the caterpillars from your plants and drop them in the bucket.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The caterpillar inside pokes its head and legs out to crawl around and feed.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 21 June 2025
  • The caterpillars' fur hides toxic spines that stick to your skin.
    — Jennifer Earl, CBS News, 17 May 2017
  • The light of the kitchen tinged the caterpillar's skin yellow.
    — Jackie Polzin, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021
  • Don’t just add to the beauty of your yard; give a caterpillar some food to eat.
    — Markis Hill, Kansas City Star, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Hungry birds will pick off many of the caterpillars.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2026
  • The moths lay eggs, which hatch and become caterpillars.
    — Chris McKeown, The Enquirer, 30 Aug. 2025
  • After all, that’s when most caterpillars tend to hatch.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Sep. 2025
  • To taste, the caterpillars are earthy and bitter.
    — Emmet Livingstone, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025
  • About the length of a paper clip, the caterpillar sways its black and bristly body back and forth.
    — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Children held up a long piece of fabric meant to look like a caterpillar.
    — Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2021
  • Those are the cocoons of the wasp larvae that have fed on the caterpillar.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 June 2022
  • The tomato hornworm is a large, green caterpillar with a red horn on its rear.
    — Dan Gill, nola.com, 13 Apr. 2019
  • Birds like cuckoos and vireos will rip tents apart to feed on the caterpillars.
    — Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 10 May 2025
  • When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the caterpillar from the inside out.
    — Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 14 July 2025
  • To rear a caterpillar to the adult stage, see the directions here.
    — oregonlive, 15 Aug. 2021
  • So the wasp comes, puts loads of larvae inside of the caterpillars.
    — Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 13 May 2024
  • But this only works on the little ones, not on the full-sized caterpillars.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 14 June 2023
  • The mom found a quarter-sized caterpillar crawling on the steps of her front porch.
    — Jennifer Earl, CBS News, 17 May 2017
  • 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 gypsy moth is the adult stage of one of the caterpillar species that threaten tree canopies.
    — New York Times, 11 May 2018
  • Tiny caterpillars on the foliage are often hard to see.
    — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Aug. 2025
  • Its caterpillars can kill boxwood shrubs through their heavy feeding.
    — Chad Murphy, Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 Oct. 2025

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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