Rootworm

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A worm that tunnels through the roots of young plants.

    "Dr. Ostlie, at the University of Minnesota, said he had permission from three companies in 2007 to compare how well their insect-resistant corn varieties fared against the rootworms found in his state."

Example

More examples

"Dr. Ostlie, at the University of Minnesota, said he had permission from three companies in 2007 to compare how well their insect-resistant corn varieties fared against the rootworms found in his state."

Etymology

From root + worm.

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