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.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
Back in New York, she signed up for more courses — jiu jitsu, praying mantis kung fu, Filipino martial arts and Jeet Kune Do, a discipline conceived by Bruce Lee.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 19, 2023
"I don't want to look like a praying mantis with these things all over my head."
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2022
He developed a martial-arts style modeled after the movements of the praying mantis and dance traditions from West African styles and the Lindy Hop.
From New York Times • Aug. 5, 2020
Perhaps we may have noticed an oddly shaped insect of ferocious mien on a bush in the garden and been dimly aware that the praying mantis lives at the expense of other insects.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
