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
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 • Nov. 19, 2023
"I don't want to look like a praying mantis with these things all over my head."
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2022
I looked down and saw a praying mantis, full grown and perhaps four inches long.
From New York Times • Oct. 24, 2021
The electric thimble moved like a praying mantis on the pillow, touched by her hand.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
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.
