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

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

Google, the core of Alphabet’s business, has its tentacles in various artificial-intelligence applications, and that breadth will be the primary narrative in the megacap internet trade this year, Raymond James argued.

From Barron's

The lifeguard was the one who saved him, curling three tentacles around Daniel to draw him away from a bad-tempered eel who had started shouting about “crazy kids” on his lawn.

From Literature

“We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by criminal networks that have profoundly marked the life of our country,” Zelaya wrote on X on Monday.

From The Wall Street Journal

Although he stepped down as Oracle’s CEO in 2014, he remains its executive chairman and chief technology officer — and continues to be deeply involved in the company and its growing tentacles.

From Los Angeles Times