What does "chrysalis" mean?
The pupa of a butterfly or moth, particularly bare and hanging or girdled, as opposed to enclosed in a cocoon, in which metamorphosis takes place.
Chrysalis
/ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The pupa of a butterfly or moth, particularly bare and hanging or girdled, as opposed to enclosed in a cocoon, in which metamorphosis takes place.
- Grammar: chrysalis is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: caterpillar, grub, larva, maggot.
- Useful contrasts: adult form, adult stage, stable state.
- Usage evidence: Do you not see with your own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction?
How to use "chrysalis"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "chrysalis" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "chrysalis" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "chrysalis" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "chrysalis" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The pupa of a butterfly or moth, particularly bare and hanging or girdled, as opposed to enclosed in a cocoon, in which metamorphosis takes place.
"Amongst the particular signs testifying the same thing, are also those exhibited by worms which feed on herbs, which, when they are to undergo a metamorphosis, encompass themselves as with a womb, that they may be born again, being therein changed into nymphs and chrysalisses, and presently into beautiful butterflies, when they fly into the air as into their heaven, where the female sports with her male companion, as one conjugal partner with another, and they nourish themselves from odoriferous flowers, and lay their eggs, thus providing that their species may live after them: […]"
- 2 pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon wordnet
- 3 The cocoon itself.
- 4 A limiting environment or situation. figuratively
"However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence."
Verb
- 1 To form a chrysalis.
"June 11. it chryſaliſed into a ſmall round ſilk-bag, mothed the 27th. […] The ground of the caterpillar is yellow, thick ſet with warts, and black-haired ſtars; chryſaliſed into a ſilk-bag Jan. 17. hatched the 28th into a yellow moth, ſhaded with red, as the painting repreſents it."
- 2 To metamorphize; to transform.
"He is in uniform, and for three years flutters on the parade, in the beer-gardens, in the gallery at the theatre, and then he chrysalises into the old paternal bauer suit and the patriarchal ideas."
Proper Noun
- 1 A former moon in Saturn, Solar System. A hypothetical former moon of Saturn, whose gravitational influence is proposed as the source of Saturn's inclination and near-resonance with Uranus, and whose destruction by gravitational disruption is proposed as the source of Saturn's rings.
Antonyms
adult formadult stagestable state
Example
"Do you not see with your own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "chrysalis"?
Common synonyms include: caterpillar, grub, larva, maggot, nymph, pupa.
How do you use "chrysalis" in a sentence?
Do you not see with your own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction?
How do you pronounce "chrysalis"?
Pronounced /ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Latin chrysalis, from Ancient Greek χρυσαλλίς (khrusallís), from χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”), because of the color of some of them.
Etymology 2
From chrysalis. Coined in 2022.