Illustration of cabbage butterfly
- 1 larva
- 2 adult
cabbage butterfly
noun
: any of several largely white butterflies (family Pieridae) whose green larvae are cabbage worms
especially
: a small cosmopolitan butterfly (Pieris rapae synonym Artogeia rapae) that is a pest on cabbage
called also cabbage white
Examples of cabbage butterfly in a Sentence
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Viceroy butterflies winter-over in the caterpillar stage, while the white cabbage butterfly lives though winter in the form of a chrysalis.
—
Jim Gilbert, Star Tribune, 19 Nov. 2020
Spearmint and peppermint are useful in attracting bees and repelling black flea beetles, ants, mosquitoes, white cabbage butterflies, aphids, and cabbage maggots.
—OregonLive.com, 29 Mar. 2018
Pieris Project asks citizen scientists to record information about Pieris rapae, or the white cabbage butterfly.
—National Geographic, 22 Apr. 2017
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Jim Gilbert, Star Tribune, 19 Nov. 2020
Spearmint and peppermint are useful in attracting bees and repelling black flea beetles, ants, mosquitoes, white cabbage butterflies, aphids, and cabbage maggots.
—OregonLive.com, 29 Mar. 2018
Pieris Project asks citizen scientists to record information about Pieris rapae, or the white cabbage butterfly.
—National Geographic, 22 Apr. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Cabbage butterfly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cabbage%20butterfly. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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