mantis
Americannoun
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mantises,
plural
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mantes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mantis
1650–60; < New Latin < Greek mántis prophet, kind of insect; akin to mania
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Vocabulary lists containing mantis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His proposed addition to Marcel Breuer’s original Whitney Museum would have hovered above it with predatory menace, like an 11-story concrete praying mantis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
And there was a vigorous cat chase at Yankee Stadium in 2021 on the same day that a mantis sat on a player’s head for two innings.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
When a prey insect buzzes by to look for nectar, the mantis rapidly strikes.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 28, 2023
We chatted and fed some house flies to a large praying mantis perched on the branch of a trumpet flower shrub.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2023
Let’s say you want to remember ten animals: elephant, giraffe, cow, duck, bison, echidna,* sheep, praying mantis, ladybug, and tabby cat.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
The crickets, grasshoppers, walking sticks, praying mantes, and cockroaches, strange as it may seem, are all near relatives to each other.
From The Insect Folk by Margaret Warner Morley
I will give an example, taken from the mantes, or praying insect, where, though the difference in size between the sexes is much less than among many spiders, the ferocity of the female is extraordinary.
From The Truth About Woman by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley
In due time a proclamation arrived from England creating The Order of the Golden Horseshoe and also fifty tiny golden horseshoes inscribed in Latin "Sic jurat transcerde mantes".
From Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of Virginia by Etta Belle Walker Northington
Of course this wonderful deliverance is of God’s sending, and we will thank Him heartily for it; but at present you must go with them and take the mantes with you.”
From Hair-Breadth Escapes The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa by H.C. Adams
The young mantes are similar to their parents, only they have no wings.
From The Insect Folk by Margaret Warner Morley
The spread of these Asian mantises highlights how human activity and climate change can alter the natural boundaries that once limited invasive species.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
Free roaming cats also prey on European mantises, which are already under pressure from competition with the invasive newcomers and are declining in many peri urban environments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
The wistful, lovely song is accompanied by weird visuals of the aliens, who look like praying mantises, admiring the human specimen through the room’s windows, applauding when she goes to the bathroom and taking pictures.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2026
He was also passionate about his niche insect hobby, raising rare praying mantises.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2024
Machine guns looked to me like praying mantises.
From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
