1
as in mermaid
a mythical goddess represented as a young girl and said to live outdoors she bought the book of fairy tales for the beautiful engravings of nymphs and fairies featured between the stories

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2
as in larva
a young wingless often wormlike form (as a grub or caterpillar) that hatches from the egg of many insects mayfly nymphs

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3
as in girl
a female person who has not yet reached adulthood the neighborhood nymphs were gathered at the local pizza parlor

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nymph The ticks live and feed on the deer, particularly during the insect's nymph and adult years, which can last up to three years. Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 29 Aug. 2025 In Ovid’s poem, Narcissus is loved by a nymph, whose name is Echo. A.o. Scott, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025 The immature or nymph stage is similar in shape but more red than adult bugs. Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 23 Aug. 2025 Dragonfly nymphs have a lower section of their mandibles that kind of unhinges, shoots forward, grabs stuff, and comes back in again, so very much like the Alien! Richard Edwards, Space.com, 12 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for nymph
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nymph
Noun
  • The satin ensemble featured a cleavage-baring open neckline, short sleeves and a waist-cinching bodice that cascaded into a mermaid skirt.
    Catherine Santino, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Bronze mermaids, floating fish, and a large octopus sculpture by Damien Hirst look down on diners in the dining room.
    Sara Liss, Bon Appetit Magazine, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The zooids start as a single larva floating in the water among the plankton.
    Ashley Mackin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Oct. 2025
  • The parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans.
    Peter Burke, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • At age 15, she was shot in the face by the Taliban for advocating for girls' education in her home country of Pakistan.
    Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
  • At the absolute minimum, Prince Andrew and others in Epstein’s orbit showed a pathological incuriosity about the young girls who surrounded him—and that is stretching good faith to its very limit.
    Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 25 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In Ovid’s version of the story, after cutting down a sacred oak, Erysichthon is cursed with insatiable hunger by the dryad nymph who inhabited it.
    Ellen Walker, JSTOR Daily, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Having regained his health, Geralt heads off with Jaskier and the dryad Milva to find Ciri, following a little skirmish with some power-mad guards.
    Nick Romano, EW.com, 27 July 2023
Noun
  • The $80,000 Swingtime Stakes matches a large field of fillies and mares seeking their first stakes win in 2025.
    Kevin Modesti, Oc Register, 12 Oct. 2025
  • And coupled with Bottle of Rouge’s upset victory Saturday in the Del Mar Debutante – Baffert’s 12th win in the fillies’ 2-year-old championship race – Baffert has now swept the juvenile titles two straight years and eight times since 1996.
    Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Nymph.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nymph. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.

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