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
A praying mantis consumes her mate after copulation, termites suck blood out of wounded peers, and mosquitoes snack on larvae.
From New York Times • Mar. 25, 2022
"I don't want to look like a praying mantis with these things all over my head."
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2022
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
Let’s say you want to remember ten animals: elephant, giraffe, cow, duck, bison, echidna,* sheep, praying mantis, ladybug, and tabby cat.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
