mantis

[ man-tis ]

noun

, plural man·tis·es, man·tes [man, -teez].

1. any of several predaceous insects of the order Mantidae, having a long prothorax and typically holding the forelegs in an upraised position as if in prayer.

mantis

/ ˈmæntɪs /

noun

1. See cockroach
   any carnivorous typically green insect of the family Mantidae, of warm and tropical regions, having a long body and large eyes and resting with the first pair of legs raised as if in prayer: order Dictyoptera Also calledpraying mantis See also cockroach

Word History and Origins

Origin of mantis¹

1650–60; < New Latin < Greek mántis prophet, kind of insect; akin to mania

Word History and Origins

Origin of mantis¹

C17: New Latin, from Greek: prophet, alluding to its praying posture

Example Sentences

The other camera was used to film fish and mantis shrimp, so you had to get the camera and laptop into underwater housing.

From Nautilus

Not long ago, he came across a description from more than 40 years ago of how a mantis shrimp navigated beaches.

From Science News For Students

These weapons emerged about when the mantis shrimp larvae first begin feeding on live prey, after exhausting the yolk sacs they were born with, Harrison says.

From Science News

This odd organ is unlike anything seen in mantises before, researchers report online April 21 in the Journal of Orthoptera Research.

From Science News

This mantis species is rarely encountered by researchers and might be thinly spread throughout the rainforest, so locating receptive mates could be particularly challenging.

From Science News

An ex-wife of one of her conquests had even described her as a “praying mantis with a terminator smile”.

From The Daily Beast

A few days later, Hafernik found more bees, and again fed them to the mantis.

From The Daily Beast

A 15-year-old girl is “a five-foot-ten-inch mantis of legendary poise and ballet repute.”

From The Daily Beast

And the mantis is so voracious that you can cut her in two without making her let go; a chain, truly, of carnage.

From Project Gutenberg

The Praying Mantis is a bright green; she boasts an elongated prothorax and an alert gait.

From Project Gutenberg

The Mantis-killing Tachytes, for instance, preys indiscriminately upon all the Mantides that occur in her neighbourhood.

From Project Gutenberg

Their centres of innervation will therefore be stabbed as well, with the leisure which the Mantis, now put out of action, permits.

From Project Gutenberg

And the entire race is not bound to the habits of the mantis or of other insects equally melodramatic.

From Project Gutenberg