cocoon
Americannoun
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the silky envelope spun by the larvae of many kinds of insects, as silkworms, serving as a covering for the insect during its stage as a pupa.
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any of various similar protective coverings in nature, as the silky case in which certain spiders enclose their eggs.
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a protective covering, usually consisting of polyvinyl chloride, sprayed over machinery, large guns on board ships, etc., to provide an airtight seal and prevent rust during long periods of storage.
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any encompassingly protective or hermetic wrapping or enclosure resembling a cocoon.
a cocoon of gauze.
verb (used without object)
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to produce a cocoon.
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to spend time at home rather than going out to socialize, especially when enjoying comforting, quiet leisure activities or entertainment.
After a certain age you realize you’d rather skip the club and just cocoon with the hubby, watching a movie on the sofa.
verb (used with object)
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to wrap or enclose tightly, as if in a cocoon.
The doctor cocooned the patient in blankets.
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to provide (machinery, guns, etc.) with a protective, airtight covering by spraying with polyvinyl chloride or the like.
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to envelop or surround protectively; insulate.
a political leader cocooned by his staff and his bodyguards.
noun
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a silky protective envelope secreted by silkworms and certain other insect larvae, in which the pupae develop
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a similar covering for the eggs of the spider, earthworm, etc
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a protective spray covering used as a seal on machinery
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a cosy warm covering
verb
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A case or covering of silky strands spun by an insect larva and inhabited for protection during its pupal stage.
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A similar protective structure, such as the egg cases made by spiders or earthworms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cocoonsimple
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cocoonssimple
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have cocoonedperfect
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has cocoonedperfect
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am cocooningprogressive
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are cocooningprogressive
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is cocooningprogressive
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have been cocooningperfect progressive
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has been cocooningperfect progressive
Past
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cocoonedsimple
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had cocoonedperfect
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was cocooningprogressive
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were cocooningprogressive
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had been cocooningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cocoon
First recorded in 1690–1700; from French cocon, from Provençal coucoun “eggshell,” equivalent to coco “shell” (from Latin coccum; see cochineal) + French -on diminutive suffix
Explanation
A cocoon is a silky web spun around the larvae of many insects. Caterpillars emerge from their cocoons as beautiful butterflies. The word cocoon can also refer to a form of self-protection for humans. For some people, their house is a cocoon, a cozy retreat from which they can escape the world. They cocoon themselves away for a whole weekend, reading, watching TV, and not answering email or the phone. Another word for cocoon is chrysalis, but only in the context of insects.
Vocabulary lists containing cocoon
Comfy Cozy Lingo
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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The Circuit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The company lays the deceased in a coffin-like container it calls a cocoon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
They open the infected pupa's cocoon, create small cuts in its outer surface, and apply formic acid, a natural antimicrobial compound produced by the workers themselves.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2025
During Thanksgiving week, from the soft neutral cocoon of my parents’ guest room, I burrowed into an impulsive rewatch of the BBC “Sherlock” — yes, the Benedict Cumberbatch era, all sculptural cheekbones and good outerwear.
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2025
Then in Spring, each forms a cocoon before emerging as an adult butterfly to lay its own eggs.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
I turned the jar around, trying to see the cocoon.
From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez
It involves feeding mulberry leaves to silkworms, harvesting their cocoons and extracting the silk fibres.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
At the time, he and his colleagues found wasp cocoons mixed in with fossil material.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026
Or the part where we emerge from our cocoons and ask each other, in mock-amazement, whether this is really who we are.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2026
Legend says the island used to be famous for sericulture and farmers would keep cats because they would chase away rats, protecting the silkworm cocoons from the rodents.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
This may result, according to laboratory tests, in destruction of 75 to 98 per cent of the cocoons present.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The cinema lights are low and you're cocooned in your seat, ready for the film to transport you to another world.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
We first see her slouched on a sofa on the back porch of the family’s house, seemingly cocooned in unhappiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
What’s more, when cocooned in that basket, the injured skier isn’t peering down over the edge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
But car bloat’s most obvious and urgent downside may be the danger it presents to anyone on the street who isn’t cocooned inside a gigantic vehicle.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2024
The windshield is fogged and the night is dark, and in Jack’s hard-domed little Saturn she feels cocooned, protected.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
In the cocooning fluidity of an ocean-borne day, rendered with thick-brushed painterliness and splashes of sound, we travel across flashes of community, injustice, achievement, love and despair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
Something that understood the rhythm of a slow morning, thick socks, a fogged-up kitchen, the whole mood of wintertime cocooning.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
The idea that cocooning may be harmful is completely new information to most patients Gormally meets.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2024
He also suggested government advisers were too quick to dismiss policies which, he argued, would have better protected the elderly and vulnerable by "cocooning" carers and other family members with whom they might have contact.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2023
Now I know why I’ve been subconsciously cocooning myself in that vacuum of numbness.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
