tentacle

American  

[ten-tuh-kuhl] / ˈtɛn tə kəl /

noun

1. Zoology. any of various slender, flexible processes or appendages in animals, especially invertebrates, that serve as organs of touch, prehension, etc.; feeler.

2. Botany. a sensitive filament or process, as one of the glandular hairs of the sundew.

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tentacle British  

/ tɛnˈtækjʊlə, tɛnˈtækjʊˌlɔɪd, ˈtɛntəkəl /

noun

1. any of various elongated flexible organs that occur near the mouth in many invertebrates and are used for feeding, grasping, etc

2. any of the hairs on the leaf of an insectivorous plant that are used to capture prey

3. something resembling a tentacle, esp in its ability to reach out or grasp

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tentacle Scientific  

/ tĕn′tə-kəl /

1. A narrow, flexible, unjointed part extending from the body of certain animals, such as an octopus, jellyfish, or sea anemone. Tentacles are used for feeling, grasping, or moving.

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Other Word Forms

• intertentacular adjective
• subtentacular adjective
• tentacle-like adjective
• tentacled adjective
• tentaclelike adjective
• tentacular adjective
• tentaculoid adjective

Etymology

Origin of tentacle

1755–65; < New Latin tentāculum, equivalent to Latin tentā ( re ) (variant of temptāre to feel, probe) + -culum -cule ²

Example Sentences

Our enterprising Gravedigger, a true woman of science, engineers a lizard elixir and regenerates the finger into a long tentacle that eventually demands a body.

From Los Angeles Times

A UK Border Force officer surveilled and investigated Chinese citizens in Britain as part of a "shadow policing operation" with its "tentacles" reaching from Hong Kong, a court has heard.

From BBC

Jellyfish galaxies get their name from the long, flowing streams of gas that stretch out behind them, resembling tentacles.

From Science Daily

When she touched it, the root shook itself and curled back like an octopus tentacle.

From Literature

Christopher had seen one in a medieval drawing, once, in which it seemed sweet and comical: two great eyes, the black tentacles waving in the sweep of blue that represented the sea.

From Literature