praying mantis
Americannoun
-
praying mantises
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of praying mantis
First recorded in 1700–10
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.
No insect shocks him more than the female praying mantis, a creature with a pious name that belies her appetite for other insects—and even for her own mate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The first step toward that vision is materializing in Motiv’s climate-controlled clean room: a sleek robotic arm whose angles resemble those of a praying mantis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
Like the praying mantis who's male through the whole thing, and then has this egg sac, but Mom and I still call it "he."
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2021
She liked insects so much as a child, she remembers getting in trouble with her parents because she had forgotten that she had left praying mantis eggs in her treasure box.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
One had ears like radar disks and another stared at him with the large eyes of a praying mantis.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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.
