How to Use praying mantis in a Sentence

praying mantis

noun
  • The praying mantis is an insect that sometimes eats its mate.
    — WSJ, 16 June 2022
  • Danes' eyes widen and her head tilts quizzically to one side like a praying mantis.
    — Txema Yeste, Marie Claire, 9 Jan. 2017
  • Wembanyama, for his part, has been likened to a praying mantis.
    — Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 25 Dec. 2025
  • Some of her photos capture a praying mantis eating the head of her mate.
    — Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2023
  • And there, on the screen, was another praying mantis.
    — Literary Hub, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Somewhat less common is the sale of live beetles or praying mantis species.
    — Doug Johnson, Ars Technica, 2 May 2022
  • But the teensy brain of a praying mantis can see depth in these stimuli easily.
    — Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 9 Jan. 2020
  • This short collection of essays finds the good in the small things, from birthdays to the praying mantis.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 23 Nov. 2023
  • Unlike her mother, the little girl was not afraid of the praying mantis and was happy to have made a new bug friend.
    — Karen Zurawski, Houston Chronicle, 6 Mar. 2018
  • Parasitic wasps, lady beetles and the king of the hill — the praying mantis — all feed on those bad guys.
    — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 2 June 2023
  • These prey-catching arms look somewhat like the front legs of a praying mantis, which gives these creatures their name – mantis shrimps.
    — Thomas Cronin, University Of Maryland, Discover Magazine, 3 Aug. 2018
  • In many parts of the world the praying mantis is encouraged because of their appetite for insect pests that damage crops.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Oct. 2023
  • Reflective of Minecraft building blocks, schools of fish, sharks, and praying mantises snaked from screen to screen in a sea of blue.
    — Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Just as the female praying mantis eats her mate after copulation, so too can borrowers and lenders fall swiftly out of love.
    — The Economist, 6 June 2020
  • While copulating, female praying mantises often kill their mates and eat them.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, 22 June 2026
  • Next to them are a rabbit and a praying mantis, miniature painted in various layers of enamel, all set against an agate dial.
    — Carol Besler, Robb Report, 26 July 2022
  • In fact, the praying mantis continued to remain on Robles even after Phillies scored three runs to take the lead.
    — Gabrielle Chung, PEOPLE.com, 3 Aug. 2021
  • One other invertebrate, the praying mantis, evolved this way, as proven in their own tiny 3D glasses study from about a year ago.
    — Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 9 Jan. 2020
  • The praying mantis is nature’s version of Corky’s Pest Control.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Oct. 2023
  • This pale-skinned home invader has long finger-like digits instead of toes, and stalks through Brynn’s bedroom like a praying mantis.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 22 Sep. 2023
  • What is worth seeing here is the 40-foot-tall praying mantis sculpture at the entrance whose antennae spew fire each evening at sundown.
    — Mindy Sink, Denver Post, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Viewers who could tolerate a photograph of a praying mantis shredding a larva drew the line at seeing a snake swallow a mouse whole.
    — Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2023
  • Hoisted in the air and surrounded by scaffolding, the object’s two appendages stick out and run down its sides like the long, slender legs of a praying mantis.
    — New York Times, 28 Jan. 2021
  • And without missing a beat, didn’t Marlo reach down and pick up this praying mantis and carry it with her across to the other side of the street and put it on the lawn?
    — Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2024
  • And yes, people can show up with all sorts of pets some days, including guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, lizards, snakes, a praying mantis, brine shrimp, rats, and ferrets.
    — Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Creepy Crawler Pumpkin Line the walkway to your front door with bugs of all kind — beetles, spiders, praying mantis, and more.
    — Annie O’Sullivan, Woman's Day, 18 Aug. 2023
  • Maryland is currently home to five species of praying mantis, but only one is native, which is the Carolina mantis.
    — Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 9 Nov. 2022
  • In the end, Smith prevails in her battle, as a praying mantis devours another behind the closing credits.
    — Neena Rouhani, Billboard, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Kreuze has been scooping the hordes of mantises into a giant box with the hope of giving them to someone who actually wants to live with praying mantises.
    — Jenny Hollander, Marie Claire, 9 Jan. 2019
  • It was inspired by research in which praying mantises in 3-D glasses helped answer a similar question.
    — New York Times, 8 Jan. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'praying mantis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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