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prehensile
[ pri-hen-sil, -sahyl ]
adjective
- adapted for seizing, grasping, or taking hold of something:
a prehensile tail.
- able to perceive quickly; having keen mental grasp.
- greedy; grasping; avaricious.
prehensile
/ ˌpriːhɛnˈsɪlɪtɪ; prɪˈhɛnsaɪl /
adjective
- adapted for grasping, esp by wrapping around a support
a prehensile tail
prehensile
/ prē-hĕn′səl /
- Adapted for seizing, grasping, or holding, especially by wrapping around an object. The feet of many birds, the tails of monkeys, and the trunks of elephants are prehensile.
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Derived Forms
- prehensility, noun
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Other Words From
- pre·hen·sil·i·ty [pree-hen-, sil, -i-tee], noun
- nonpre·hensile adjective
- subpre·hensile adjective
- subpre·hen·sili·ty noun
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Word History and Origins
Origin of prehensile1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of prehensile1
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Example Sentences
The coaita has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on the posteriors: he has a very long prehensile tail.
Their tail is prehensile, naked underneath at the extremity, and very bushy over every other part.
His tail is not prehensile but flaccid, and half as long again as his head and body.
They grasped things with the strong prehensile grasp of the infant, rather than with the clutch of the miser.
The tall giraffe, with his prehensile lip, raised nearly twenty feet in the air, can browse upon these trees without difficulty.
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