mantis
Americannoun
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.
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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
"In natural fights, we see mantis shrimp coil their tails in front of their bodies like a shield. I wanted to know how this behavioral use of the tail changed how they receive impacts."
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2024
When a prey insect buzzes by to look for nectar, the mantis rapidly strikes.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 28, 2023
The electric thimble moved like a praying mantis on the pillow, touched by her hand.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
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 Northington, Etta Belle Walker
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 Hartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
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 Morley, Margaret Warner
The young mantes are similar to their parents, only they have no wings.
From The Insect Folk by Morley, Margaret Warner
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 Adams, H.C.
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
The mantises can control their flight and travel up to 8 meters, researchers report this week in Current Biology.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 29, 2023
Horsehair worms are born in water and use aquatic insects like mayflies to hitchhike to dry land, where they sit tight until they are eaten by terrestrial insects such as crickets or mantises.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2023
I know about queen ants, and about the female praying mantises eating the males.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
