nymphs

plural of nymph
1
as in mermaids
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 larvae
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 girls
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 nymphs Many of the old stories feature vilas, nymphs or fairies of the forests and mountains. Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025 Inspectors spotted two live German cockroach nymphs at a storage cabinet above a two-compartment sink and a live adult roach on the floor near the ice machine. Sarah Linn, Sacbee.com, 3 Oct. 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nymphs
Noun
  • 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
  • The Maritime Festival, with its ship battles, pirate village and breakfasts with mermaids, routinely draws thousands to Dana Point Harbor.
    Erika I. Ritchie, Oc Register, 13 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • This is true not just for girls but for boys as well.
    Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Colvert, a 15-year-old from Pasadena, created the group to restore normalcy for teen girls affected by the devastating California wildfire, gathering beauty products, clothes and other personal supplies in a call that went viral.
    Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In the final novel of the series, The Last Battle, the destruction of trees and dryads in Lantern Waste, a place tied to the creation of Narnia itself, is one of many portentous omens signalling the end of the world.
    Ellen Walker, JSTOR Daily, 3 Sep. 2025
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

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

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