a mythical goddess represented as a young girl and said to live outdoors
in Greek mythology, naiads supposedly drowned the young men with whom they became enamored
a young wingless often wormlike form (as a grub or caterpillar) that hatches from the egg of many insects
students in science class learning how to distinguish a dragonfly naiad from an earthworm
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Recent Examples of naiadToday, the naiads frolic in water that is periodically drained for cleaning and maintenance.—David Laskin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 June 2024 And now, as played with fierce physicality and grueling commitment by Annette Bening, Diana is a movie character: an impossible person who achieved the impossible, a naiad whose truer mythological counterpart might be Narcissus.—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023 Leighton set his youthful figure — a classical nymph or naiad — in a Mediterranean setting.—Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2022 The lovely Arcadia region, lush with cypress, poplar, and olive groves, bears traces of the virgin wilderness where nymphs, naiads, and the horned god Pan once frolicked.—Thomas Linkel, National Geographic, 18 July 2019
But their legacy still holds strong, even today; the Weeki Wachee mermaids are the closest thing Florida has to royalty.
—
Skye Sherman,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Nov. 2025
Descending deep beneath the surface without a breathing apparatus may look like a magic trick, like modern-day mermaids gliding effortlessly through the water.
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