velvet worm

1. 1.

   any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms

   Synonymsonychophoranperipatus

   Broaderarthropod

   NarrowerPlicatoperipatus jamaicensis

   Part ofOnychophora

Questions about velvet worm

What does velvet worm mean?

velvet worm means "any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms".

What is another word for velvet worm?

Close synonyms include onychophoran, peripatus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is velvet worm a common word?

velvet worm is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.