Word.ws English Dictionary

tent caterpillar

tent caterpillar noun: 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.

tent caterpillar: a larva belonging to any of a number of species of moths of the genus Malacosoma, known for...
Image: J.R. Carmichael, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

tent caterpillar (plural tent caterpillars)

  1. 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.

Forms of tent caterpillar

pluraltent caterpillars

Questions about tent caterpillar

What does tent caterpillar mean?
Tent caterpillar means 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.
What part of speech is tent caterpillar?
Tent caterpillar is a noun.
What is the plural of tent caterpillar?
The plural of tent caterpillar is tent caterpillars.

Words near tent caterpillar in the dictionary

  1. tensure
  2. tent
  3. tent bed
  4. tent beds
  5. tent camping
  6. tent caterpillar
  7. tent caterpillars
  8. tent embassies
  9. tent embassy
  10. tent meeting
  11. tent meetings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tent caterpillar (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “tent caterpillar.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tent_caterpillar. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.