a young wingless often wormlike form (as a grub or caterpillar) that hatches from the egg of many insects
the larva looked ugly, but it was destined to hatch into a beautiful butterfly
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Recent Examples of larvaThe findings, detailed in a study published today in the journal Science, trace the larva’s daily diving routine with a sonar system, and look at what is going on at the biological level.—
Margherita Bassi,
Popular Science,
23 July 2026 In a paper published this month in PLOS One, Alaei and her colleagues propose an alternative - employing a suite of superworms, a kind of hefty beetle larva that can capably pick a variety of animal skeletons clean.—
Ari Daniel,
NPR,
17 July 2026 Fireflies go through four life stages – egg, larva, pupa and adult – in a process called complete metamorphosis.—
Janet Loehrke,
USA Today,
5 July 2026 Look in curled leaves that often contain webs with the larva stages — often called worms.—
Tom MacCubbin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for larva
Recent Examples of Synonyms for larva
nymph
Noun
After the eggs hatch, the young dragonflies, called nymphs, live underwater for at least six months and for up to five years for some species.
—
Olga R. Rodriguez,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Aug. 2026
The re-inspection resulted in the closure and red placard being upheld after inspectors found eight live German and Turkistan cockroaches throughout the facility, plus seven dead and dying nymph cockroaches.