moth-eaten
Americanadjective
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eaten or damaged by or as if by the larvae of moths.
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decayed or worn out.
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out of fashion; antiquated.
adjective
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decayed, decrepit, or outdated
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eaten away by or as if by moths
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of moth-eaten
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400
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.
Edith Wharton is a moth-eaten gown in the musty attic of American literature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
We’re more taken by the scenes in which her father, Stellan Skarsgård’s faded filmmaker Gustav, dusts off his moth-eaten charisma to charm Elle Fanning’s Hollywood starlet into doing his new project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
The curtain your brother is hiding behind is moth-eaten and flimsy.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2025
After about four hours, he found his name on the last page of a moth-eaten book.
From BBC ● May 29, 2023
I walk through the red-eyed people, past the hunching walls, the graying paint, the collapsing furniture, the darkening windows, the moth-eaten air.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
