Meaning & use
cocooning
Last updated
The practice of withdrawing into one's home for comfort and privacy, avoiding outside social contact.
See it in a sentence
During the pandemic, cocooning became a popular way to describe staying safely at home.
After a stressful week, she spent the weekend cocooning with blankets and takeout.
A note on using this word
The term was popularized by futurist Faith Popcorn in the 1980s to describe a broader social trend of retreating from public life.
Words with a similar meaning
nestinghibernatingsheltering
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. verb
Wrapping or enclosing something as if in a cocoon.
The moth spent weeks cocooning itself in silk before emerging.
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