lepidopterist

noun

lep·​i·​dop·​ter·​ist ˌle-pə-ˈdäp-tə-rist How to pronounce lepidopterist (audio)
: a specialist in lepidopterology

Examples of lepidopterist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Rather, its meditative, hyper-fixated approach to process — as seen through the eyes of seasoned lepidopterists — proves so hypnotic that any appeals or augments the movie makes are deeply felt before they’re intellectually understood. Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 15 Mar. 2024 In 1848, a Manchester lepidopterist called R.L. Edleston caught a rare variety of the peppered moth, normally a pale, delicately ornamented creature. Cal Flyn, WSJ, 3 June 2021 Plucked from tangles of jungle undergrowth to a pin-speckled board, the lepidopterist's oath. Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 31 Mar. 2018 Jason Dombroskie, a lepidopterist at Cornell University, tells the New York Times. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 May 2022 Madeline Champagne, an amateur lepidopterist — someone who studies moths and butterflies — said monarchs have a short life cycle, going from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly in about four weeks. BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2021 In his music and presentation of himself, Dylan has always been mercurial, recalcitrant, unknowable: a wiggly mess of creative impulses that Heylin hopes to pin down, playing the Dylanologist as lepidopterist. John Semley, The New Republic, 26 May 2021 That failure came back to haunt lepidopterists, one of whom discovered a nearly identical butterfly in the early 1980s. Stephenie Livingston, Science | AAAS, 9 Sep. 2019 To illustrate Dundy’s story, Wolfe was photographed by Irving Penn, who captured the writer’s ineffable style with his lepidopterist’s eye. Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 15 May 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lepidopterist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1826, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of lepidopterist was in 1826

Dictionary Entries Near lepidopterist

Cite this Entry

“Lepidopterist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lepidopterist. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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