noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any moth in the species-rich family Noctuidae or the superfamily Noctuoidea.

   "Mr. H. McKnight, who resides at Goldstream, took a number of noctuids in September, feeding on hops."

2. 2
   usually dull-colored medium-sized nocturnal moth; the usually smooth-bodied larvae are destructive agricultural pests wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

owlet mothnoctuid mothnoctuid mothowlet moth

Example

More examples

"Mr. H. McKnight, who resides at Goldstream, took a number of noctuids in September, feeding on hops."

Etymology

From translingual Noctuidae, from Latin noctua (“owl”, literally “nocturnal one”) + -id.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.