praying mantis
Americannoun
noun
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.
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.
He was also passionate about his niche insect hobby, raising rare praying mantises.
From Los Angeles Times
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
They live and reproduce in water, but their young only develop inside the bodies of other animals—usually terrestrial insects such as praying mantises.
From Science Magazine
Birds, such as blue jays, cardinals, and chickens; as well as arthropods, such as praying mantises, spiders, yellowjackets, and ants, are the most common predators.
From National Geographic
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.
