How to Use pupate in a Sentence

pupate

verb
  • Unlike most butterflies, this species pupates underground.
  • Mature larvae move down the tree in search of a place to pupate and can be trapped in the sticky substance.
    — oregonlive, 30 Apr. 2022
  • Soon enough, the eggs hatch, eat, pupate, and emerge while the cockroach sits and waits for its body to be consumed.
    — Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 1 Nov. 2011
  • After feeding for two weeks, the larva spins a cocoon to pupate.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2023
  • Groups of the caterpillars begin to move down the trunk and look for a place to pupate in leaf litter or the ground.
    — NOLA.com, 23 June 2017
  • The larvae later drop to the ground to pupate in summer and emerge as adults the following spring.
    — Hannah Herrera Greenspan, chicagotribune.com, 9 June 2021
  • The larvae drop to the ground later in summer to pupate and emerge as adult moths the following spring.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2022
  • The grubs move from deep in the soil toward the surface in the spring to eat roots, pupating in early summer.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Four weeks later, the larva forms a hard shell and pupates, emerging as an adult five to seven days later.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2023
  • During spring, larvae mature and pupate in a cell of soil particles.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2022
  • The larvae later drop to the ground in order to pupate in summer and emerge as adults the following spring.
    — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 23 May 2021
  • In fact, if the host dies before the larvae drop off to pupate in the ground, the larvae will typically die along with it.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 5 July 2026
  • But before that, some of the larvae drop into soil to pupate in the winter, a process that is supposed to begin in the next few weeks.
    — Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Aug. 2022
  • The adult wasps die during the year and larvae generally pupate and emerge the following year.
    — Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 9 May 2026
  • Some caddisflies build cases out of rocks and shells from their native rivers and streams and pupate inside after sealing them up.
    — Liz Langley, National Geographic, 11 Aug. 2020
  • One of them turns its caterpillar hosts into undead bodyguards that will defend pupating young wasps that just ate through its body.
    — Christie Wilcox, Scientific American, 1 May 2017
  • Once summer comes, native milkweeds are covered with monarch larvae that will pupate before the adults emerge in all their glory.
    — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 4 Apr. 2026
  • By autumn, the caterpillars had wolfed down the leaves, pupated and flown away, leaving our thistle fields in tatters.
    — Isabella Tree, Time, 3 Oct. 2019
  • The lake is known for thick, black clusters of brine flies by the billions, which pupate in its salty water then gather in dense mats to reproduce on shore.
    — Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Nov. 2022
  • After three to seven days, the larvae fall to the ground and burrow into the soil to pupate, transforming into flies.
    — Madhusree Mukerjee, Scientific American, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Plastic tarps or heavy mulch layers in place during nut drop can prevent or inhibit larvae from entering the soil to pupate.
    — oregonlive, 25 Oct. 2020
  • Overwintering larvae deep in the soil move toward the surface in spring to feed on roots, pupating in early summer.
    — The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, 26 Jan. 2018
  • When the larvae are about ten weeks old, those not destined to pupate, and thus provide the next generation of mealworms, are sorted, cleaned and steamed to death.
    — The Economist, 5 July 2019
  • Next summer, after having pupated underground, the adults emerge.
    — Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 9 May 2026
  • The larvae infest the food but can move some distance away to pupate, spinning a silken cocoon and attaching to the wall, under a shelf, or inside a box of food.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 18 Apr. 2026
  • The larvae infest the food but can move some distance away to pupate, spinning a silken cocoon and attaching to the wall, under a shelf, or inside a box of food.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Quarantined with other members of their strain, the flies mate and lay eggs, which hatch, pupate and reproduce, continuing the cycle.
    — Star Tribune, 25 Dec. 2020
  • Others say raking any leaves up in the fall to get rid of pupating Caloptilia syringella is the way to control their populations.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 12 July 2019
  • The larvae mature in their nasal nurseries, then fall to the ground and pupate in the environment before transforming into parasitic pests.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 6 Apr. 2022
  • Several will work together and mine the tissue between leaf covers, then use their silk thread to roll up leaves, continue eating and finally pupate over the winter.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 12 July 2019

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