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 There were four dead German cockroach nymphs on a glue trap in the cabinet under the handwash sink. Sacbee.com, 22 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nymphs
Noun
  • In Voodoo lore, Marie Laveau was heavily associated with mermaids.
    Time, Time, 8 Sep. 2025
  • That season’s Pirates of the High Seas & Renaissance Fest is a local favorite, with sword fights, fire performers, and mermaids drawing families and fantasy lovers to the shore.
    Carrie Honaker, Travel + Leisure, 15 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Girl Scout cookie season remains a powerful way for young girls to build confidence and business skills through hands-on entrepreneurship.
    Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 9 Sep. 2025
  • While Tuesday’s report covers the experiences of more than 350 women who came forward to speak to the investigators, Danish authorities say more than 4,000 women and girls — reportedly half the fertile women in Greenland at the time — received IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 9 Sep. 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
  • 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 13 Sep. 2025.

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