cocoon
Americannoun
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cocoons
plural
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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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cocoons,
present (3rd person singular)
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cocooned,
past participle, past
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cocooning
present participle
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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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cocoons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cocooned,
past participle, past
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cocooning
present participle
-
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
-
has cocoonedperfect
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am cocooningprogressive
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are cocooningprogressive
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is cocooningprogressive
-
have been cocooningperfect progressive
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has been cocooningperfect progressive
Past
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cocoonedsimple
-
had cocoonedperfect
-
was cocooningprogressive
-
were cocooningprogressive
-
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:
Using modelling simulations, they determined the most likely scenario was that the object is powered by a central black hole surrounded by a cocoon of gas that makes it resemble a star.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
"They are undergoing tremendous transformation, and we need to approach them as someone who is coming outside of a cocoon and becoming something different."
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
The company lays the deceased in a coffin-like container it calls a cocoon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
It was a place that seemed wrapped in a cocoon of nostalgia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026
“A controlled risk-free cocoon for your lab pet?”
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
"Over time, small improvements in hygiene, feeding practices, and environmental control began to compound into better survival rates and higher-quality cocoons."
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 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
Haney said his proposal not only would allow small business owners to diversify their income stream, but also would encourage people to come out of their post-pandemic cocoons and socialize again.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024
As we emerge ever further from our wintertime cocoons, blinking and scraggly as post-hibernation bears, let’s load up our “good reasons to leave the house” lists with everything from frothy musicals to thoughtful family stories.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
They went on yelling and thrusting cocoons in one another’s faces and lying and haggling.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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
The smell of fields being burned in preparation for the next crop cycle filtered in and I’d lie cocooned in itchy blankets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025
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 chip, cocooned within a vacuum chamber and cooled nearly to absolute zero, is patterned with 198 gold electrodes, arranged like an oval racetrack.
From Science Magazine ● May 30, 2024
Indeed, she was cocooned from all the rest.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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
I think about the dense woods cocooning the property, with the meandering, secret paths we made ourselves with wheelbarrows full of mulch.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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.
