HOW TO PRONOUNCE
chrysalis
/ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:33
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What does chrysalis mean?
noun
- A butterfly pupa or the pupal stage of the butterfly lifestyle; (originally) any pupal stage of any insect wherein the pupa is largely inactive and takes no food.
- The bare hanging cocoon of butterfly pupae; (originally) any cocoon.
- (figuratively) Any limiting environment or situation escaped during one's growth or development in the manner of a butterfly.
More meanings (4)
verb
- To form a chrysalis or cocoon.
- To metamorphize, to undergo metamorphosis, to transform.
proper noun
- 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.
- A proposed generation ship, which would use fusion rockets and take 400 years to travel from the Sun to Alpha Centauri. See PROJECT HYPERION and Project Hyperion (interstellar).
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Cosette, as she took her flight, winged and transfigured, left behind her on the earth her hideous and empty chrysalis, Jean Valjean.
Would it not be the same with the chrysalis of the great peacock, dissected cell by cell by hundreds of infinitesimal anatomists?
More book examples (3)
At the call of the field-cricket, the herald of the spring, the germs that slumber in nymph or chrysalis have broken through their spell.
The susceptibility of the animal to this influence of its surroundings was found to be greatest during a definite period when the caterpillar undergoes the metamorphosis into the chrysalis stage.
Having made its full growth in the spring of the third year, this grub passes into the chrysalis state, and in May or June comes out a perfect insect or beetle.