manna

noun

man·na | \ ˈma-nə

Definition of manna

1a : food miraculously supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness

b : divinely supplied spiritual nourishment

c : a usually sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain

2a : the sweetish dried exudate of a Eurasian ash (especially Fraxinus ornus) that contains mannitol and has been used as a laxative and demulcent

b : a similar product excreted by a scale insect (Trabutina mannipara) feeding on the tamarisk

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Examples of manna in a Sentence

Your generous gift was manna from heaven. the announcement that there would be a sequel was manna to the many fans of the original movie

Recent Examples on the Web

This is like manna from heaven for proponents of more government spending and larger fiscal deficits. — John Greenwood And, WSJ, "Magical Monetary Theory," 4 June 2019 In economic terms for nursery growers, the tree was manna from heaven. — Adrian Higgins, The Seattle Times, "Scientists thought they had created the perfect tree. But it became a nightmare.," 17 Sep. 2018 So that is the only thing that actually occurred at the time that manna for was with the Trump campaign. — Fox News, "How Rick Gates' testimony impacts Manafort trial," 8 Aug. 2018 So every war for them is like manna from heaven, since soldiers are laid to rest with flowers. — Linda Kinstler, Longreads, "Angrily Experiencing the Best Days of Our Lives," 27 June 2018 This payoff wouldn't come every time, though; game-players were constantly shifting, crouching, inching closer, stepping back from the wall, trying to conjure the message, getting only bits of AR manna instead. — Lauren Goode, WIRED, "Facebook Built an AR Game at F8, But Nobody Knows Why They're Playing It," 2 May 2018 Time for Ilhan feels like manna from heaven for liberals and progressives who have been in a state of despair since the last presidential election. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Time for Ilhan': Film Review | Tribeca 2018," 27 Apr. 2018 Lena Dunham!—are manna for media heaven, but this one was special order. — Laura Brown, Harper's BAZAAR, "Jennifer Lawrence: Truth and Beauty," 7 Apr. 2016 To his legions of fans, Miller's annual ski flick amounted to cinematic manna from heaven — an overdue shot of cold air and deep snow to stoke the fires within winter warriors who had suffered through the long, hot months of snowless summer. — Author: Ron Judd, Anchorage Daily News, "Pioneering, inspiring snow-sports filmmaker Warren Miller, 93, dies at Washington state home," 25 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'manna.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.