How to Use chrysalis in a Sentence

chrysalis

noun
  • Or, hang on, maybe life is a chrysalis, a labyrinth, or a box of chocolates.
    — Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Townsend said the critters arrive at the zoo in their chrysalis.
    — Megan Rodriguez, San Antonio Express-News, 20 Oct. 2021
  • His chrysalis is as brown as the stick itself, oddly shaped with a point on the tip.
    — Lois Szymanski, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 1 Sep. 2019
  • Only after the sun sets does the adult moth, having crawled from its chrysalis, look for a mate.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023
  • That emotional chrysalis has a lot to do with her personal life.
    — Justine Harman, Glamour, 4 Feb. 2018
  • What will the auto world be like when the Detroit show emerges from its cruddy chrysalis?
    — Dan Neil, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2019
  • Watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis is enough to evoke wonder even from the most world-weary of souls.
    — Lisa Raffensperger, Discover Magazine, 15 May 2013
  • This is the best time also to witness butterflies emerging from their chrysalis.
    — Jim Dobson, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2021
  • The chrysalis slowly faded from a jade green to clear, revealing orange wings.
    — Larell Scardelli, Good Housekeeping, 8 Sep. 2017
  • One body slightly raised up for a moment, appearing to emerge like a moth from its hardened chrysalis.
    — Robert Sullivan, Vogue, 28 July 2023
  • Six years later, each man had emerged from a chrysalis of self-actualization.
    — Michael Ames, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2023
  • From their perspective, a star is just a transitory stage, a chrysalis.
    — Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The entire cocoon, or chrysalis, will then be veiled in a shroud of clear balloons with a hint of iridescence.
    — Lisa Deaderick, sandiegouniontribune.com, 12 Jan. 2018
  • But not much later, even in the stifling silence of my news chrysalis, the doubts began to penetrate.
    — Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Students in dark suits, who had spent the summer in the corporate chrysalis of banks and consulting firms, rushed ahead.
    — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2021
  • But give the hapless performer vocabulary points for using the word chrysalis.
    — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 19 June 2018
  • From each spiracle, the blue tubes, called trachea, carry oxygen into the chrysalis.
    — Lisa Raffensperger, Discover Magazine, 15 May 2013
  • Studying design in Milan became her chrysalis.
    — Skylar Mitchell, Essence, 10 Dec. 2025
  • Like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, the story unfurls in surprising ways.
    — oregonlive, 26 Sep. 2019
  • About halfway through the plot, Orlando—born a man—falls into a deep sleep as into a chrysalis and emerges as a woman.
    — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 2 Nov. 2020
  • And did Hawley have to take his eloquent first-act chrysalis-and-butterfly motif and beat it into such a blunt metaphor?
    — BostonGlobe.com, 10 Oct. 2019
  • Dylan entered his chrysalis at the start of ‘64 a scruffy, caterpillar — all giggles, baggy jeans, and naïveté.
    — Lauren Daley, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Jan. 2023
  • The monarch’s black, white and yellow ringed caterpillars also eat common milkweed leaves, then form jewel-like chrysalides, which hang from those leaves.
    — Susan Degrane, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Instead, there was a giant chrysalis while a barbershop quartet sang the schedule out for 48 seconds.
    — Jayna Bardahl, New York Times, 15 May 2026
  • In nature, a chrysalis typically contains the makings of just one new butterfly.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2022
  • Its natural wooden structure provides shelter for butterflies in the rain and gives them a safe spot to make their chrysalises, too.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Mar. 2026
  • By the time Miles emerged from his Hill Country chrysalis, people recognized and approached him.
    — Avery Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Feb. 2024
  • Viceroy butterflies winter-over in the caterpillar stage, while the white cabbage butterfly lives though winter in the form of a chrysalis.
    — Jim Gilbert, Star Tribune, 19 Nov. 2020
  • The chrysalis is unpacked, inspected for any sign of disease or parasitoids, then pinned to foam boards and placed into the emergence chamber.
    — Kathy Berdan, Twin Cities, 12 June 2017
  • In wealthy countries, vaccinations are bringing down deaths, bringing back life and pulling families from the chrysalis of lockdowns.
    — John Leicester and Mauricio Savarese, Star Tribune, 1 July 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chrysalis.' 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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