Word.ws English Dictionary

praying mantises

praying mantises is the plural of praying mantis.

Meaning of praying mantis

Noun

praying mantis (plural praying mantises or praying mantes)

  1. Any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the order Mantodea that have a prayer-like stance.
    • Scientists have discovered that female praying mantises who eat their mates after sex produce a greater number of eggs than those who do not, with the bodies of the ill-fated males used to aid their production.2016 June 28, Nicola Davis, “Having your partner for dinner? Mantis cannibalism boosts fertility – study”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2017
  2. (regional) European mantis: a mantid of the species Mantis religiosa.
  3. (broadly) A woman who preys on men (from the idea that female praying mantises eat males after sex).

Questions about praying mantises

What is praying mantises the plural of?
Praying mantises is the plural of praying mantis.

Words near praying mantises in the dictionary

  1. praying machines
  2. praying mantes
  3. praying mantid
  4. praying mantids
  5. praying mantis
  6. praying mantises
  7. praying mill
  8. praying mills
  9. praying shawl
  10. praying shawls
  11. praying the gay away

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: praying mantises (page history and authors); praying mantis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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