tentacle

[ten-tuh-kuhl]

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.

tentacle

/ 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

tentacle

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.

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tentacle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tentacle¹

C18: from New Latin tentāculum, from Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre to feel

Example Sentences

It’s also highly intelligent and fast, propelling itself via slick tentacles like a bloody octopus.

Read more on Salon

It has "many, many, many, tentacles that go everywhere", she says.

Read more on BBC

The trailing tentacles can deliver a painful sting, which Mr Pace says feels more like that of a bee than a nettle.

Read more on BBC

If they dismantle one largely blue city and attach it via hooks and tentacles to uncontested rural seats, they might get away with more than that without going all the way.

Read more on Salon

He also said his boss had closed down an elite unit investigating political murders after it uncovered a drug cartel with tentacles in the business sector, prison department, prosecution service and judiciary.

Read more on BBC