How to Use molt in a Sentence

molt

1 of 2 verb
  • Snakes molt as they grow, shedding the old skin and growing a larger new skin.
  • The same is true of adult birds that settle in an area to molt.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 Sep. 2020
  • One of the shrimp in the tank has molted and doubled in size.
    — Ben Raines | [email protected], AL.com, 16 May 2017
  • These survivors return to land to molt into their adult plumage.
    — Elizabeth Warkentin, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2021
  • Some snakes can molt to remove the fungus, others aren’t so lucky.
    — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 23 Dec. 2017
  • These birds molt each year, replacing their feathers with a fresh set.
    — Ben Guarino, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2017
  • On East, a molting monk seal smelled worse than sweaty, pungent gym socks.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2023
  • Adélies molt on floes far at sea and use ice as way stations to avoid predators between hunts.
    — Craig Welch, National Geographic, 13 Jan. 2023
  • See another video of the same species molting, and learn more about the spider.
    — Amy Rankin, National Geographic, 16 May 2018
  • Pinky’s fame grew even as the bird bent, molted and faded with each turn of the calendar.
    — Ryan Steven Green, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2026
  • Birds molt every year, so grimy feathers contained no more than a year’s worth of black carbon.
    — Joanna Klein, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2017
  • As the days warm up, more and more will make the journey up tree trunks to molt, find a mate, lay their eggs, then die soon after.
    — Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 25 May 2021
  • But, in the span of two to four weeks, each cicada in this brood will molt, eat and try to mate before dying.
    — Washington Post, 4 May 2021
  • Penguins molt once a year, shedding their coats and replacing them with new feathers.
    — Ananya Panchal, SFChronicle.com, 4 June 2020
  • Almost like a gremlin, the same creature that appears small and tiny then molts its skin and then becomes huge.
    — Adam B. Vary, Variety, 10 Nov. 2025
  • These nymphs will pop out of the ground, climb upward, then molt their nymphal case, just like a crab casting off an old exoskeleton.
    — Washington Post, 5 May 2021
  • Those larvae grow and molt in the fly's tissues before reaching an infective stage.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 6 Nov. 2019
  • The whooping crane chick at the Milwaukee zoo is covered in light brown fuzz and has started to molt.
    — Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 28 June 2019
  • But in the cold Antarctic seas, the whales are apparently unable to molt.
    — Virginia Morell, Science | AAAS, 21 Feb. 2020
  • Each stage of molting is called an instar, and some insects molt up to five times before moving onto the next stage.
    — Liz Langley, National Geographic, 11 Aug. 2020
  • The feathery-looking gills also molt and remain attached inside near the legs.
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 7 Jan. 2026
  • The Weddell seals were already finished molting, so the scene was much cleaner.
    — Kasha Patel, Smithsonian, 13 July 2018
  • The lesions, which spread quickly across a snake's body from the disease, may dissipate by molting.
    — Josh Hafner, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2017
  • Across the beach, there’s a sleek gray Weddell seal lounging on his stomach who has finished molting.
    — Stephen Witt, WIRED, 25 June 2019
  • People with allergies are most at risk when bird cages or lofts are cleaned out, and during the time of year when birds molt and shed their feathers.
    — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Area songbirds are slowly but steadily molting into their breeding plumage.
    — Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, 12 Apr. 2018
  • In the spring, the seals return to the same beaches to molt, shedding their fur and even some skin before spending the rest of the year in the ocean.
    — Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2014
  • Mallards molt a whole new suit of feathers at once, while Mexican ducks appear to molt piecemeal.
    — Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Extreme drought is causing breeding grounds, molting spots and migration stopover sites to vanish.
    — The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Jones said the larval ticks then molt into infected nymphs that can infect humans the following year.
    — Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 17 July 2017

molt

2 of 2 noun
  • During this time, the adults molt and don’t fly.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 23 Aug. 2025
  • Each summer the birds shed, or molt, their wing and tail feathers.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 June 2018
  • To gain, lose, molt, flower, fruit and more will happen again and again.
    — Holiday Mathis, Arkansas Online, 31 May 2021
  • These Arctic-dwelling species rely on sea ice to pup, nurse and molt.
    — Susanne Rust, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Dec. 2021
  • Soon, white reindeer will turn buff with spring, the molt beginning with a dark ring around the eye.
    — Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Mallards and wood ducks have begun flying again after their molt.
    — Star Tribune, 29 July 2021
  • Birds molt, for instance, shedding their worn feathers and growing new ones.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 20 Apr. 2023
  • After the spring, their male gonads age and drop off in a single molt and an ovary develops.
    — Emily Toomey, Smithsonian, 28 June 2019
  • The local carcasses may simply be a run-of-the-mill lobster molt.
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 7 Jan. 2026
  • There’s the annual molt, during which even the crows are disheveled and pencil-necked.
    — Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Sep. 2017
  • These epic journeys, called pre-molt dispersals, are crucial for survival.
    — Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 6 Nov. 2018
  • The lobster in question will start regrowing her missing claw before her next molt.
    — Michael Roppolo, CBS News, 6 June 2023
  • Back on the island, the massive male elephant seal hasn’t finished his annual molt yet.
    — Stephen Witt, WIRED, 25 June 2019
  • This is a once-in-17-years event where the insects burrow out of the ground, molt, reproduce and then die.
    — David J. Smith, Forbes, 4 June 2021
  • The whales spend their time in the river, which flows into the Hudson Bay, to give birth to calves, feed, and molt.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 July 2022
  • After the megalopa phase, crabs molt another seven or eight times to transform into their crab shape.
    — Sara Sneath, NOLA.com, 20 Oct. 2017
  • Nymphs molt into more nymphs, growing larger and sprouting wing buds until the final molt, when the adult emerges like a new, green leaf.
    — Sabrina Imbler, Harper's BAZAAR, 6 Dec. 2022
  • According to the team, the molts came from the larval ancestors of modern-day dermestids.
    — Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 2 May 2023
  • That molt essentially wiped out the soot that had accumulated in their plumage.
    — Ben Guarino, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2017
  • After the molt, Clawdia’s new exoskeleton was not as solidly blue as before.
    — John Kuntz, cleveland, 13 Feb. 2021
  • Many animals that shed their skin later eat their molt to regain energy lost during the molting process.
    — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 24 May 2017
  • In winter, tens of thousands of the threatened Steller's eider sea ducks stay in Izembek and molt.
    — Author: Juliet Eilperin, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Jan. 2018
  • Unlike some birds that shed a few feathers at a time, penguins lose all their feathers at once during a process called catastrophic molt.
    — Elissa Nuñez, National Geographic, 16 Aug. 2019
  • These headpieces grow taller with each molt, tapering into a tower of dead heads that can be nearly half as tall as the caterpillar is long.
    — Sabrina Imbler, Harper's BAZAAR, 6 Dec. 2022
  • During a run of ideal weather earlier this month, the city began its molt from a sleepy seaside burg into its bustling summer form.
    — Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News, 21 May 2022
  • These were kings, calmer and more aloof than the royals, going through their annual molt, their stumpy bodies a mess of patchy old plumage being pushed up and out by new growth.
    — Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 14 Dec. 2021
  • In addition to hola and gràcies, bon día (good morning), si us plau (please), merci (thanks), and molt bó (very good, as in food) will be useful.
    — Sara McCarty, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Mar. 2018
  • The dark coloring is a result of the fresh exoskeleton forming underneath, which can be seen after the spider's molt.
    — National Geographic, 24 May 2017
  • With every molt, the stack becomes an increasingly tall, tapering tower since every head is larger than the last.
    — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 9 Aug. 2020
  • Once out in the open, often after climbing high up in a tree, the cicadas molt, leaving the shell that once provided protection behind.
    — Dwight Weingarten, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 May 2021

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