larva
Americannoun
plural
larvae-
Entomology. the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
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any animal in an analogous immature form.
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the young of any invertebrate animal.
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Roman Antiquity. larvae, malignant ghosts, as lemures.
noun
plural
larvae-
An animal in an early stage of development that differs greatly in appearance from its adult stage. Larvae are adapted to a different environment and way of life from those of adults and go through a process of metamorphosis in changing to adults. Tadpoles are the larvae of frogs and toads.
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The immature, wingless, and usually wormlike feeding form of those insects that undergo three stages of metamorphosis, such as butterflies, moths, and beetles. Insect larvae hatch from eggs, later turn into pupae, and finally turn into adults.
Other Word Forms
- larval adjective
Etymology
Origin of larva
First recorded in 1645–55; from New Latin; special use of Latin larva “a ghost, specter, mask, skeleton”; akin to Lares
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.
This marks the first time such genetic activity has been studied in a living host using an approach based on fish larvae.
From Science Daily
Platts Mills recognized that many bites thought to be from chiggers in the eastern United States are actually from Lone Star tick larvae.
From Science Daily
To investigate reproduction and early life stages, the team set traps to capture drifting larvae at four sites off eastern Tenerife in September 2023, when spawning typically peaks each year.
From Science Daily
Those offspring hibernate over winter as larvae - caterpillars - in a communal silken web called a hibernaculum.
From BBC
The larvae among the species are aquatic, living among dense vegetation in wetlands, while the adults fly from spring until early August.
From BBC
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.
