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

Explanation

A tentacle is long, ropey thing that sticks out of an animal’s face. You probably think they’re gross. Octopuses probably think they’re cute. You can use the word tentacle when referring to all kinds of things that grasp and hold, not just slithery creatures like octopi and jellyfish. But the word does have creepy associations, which is why “the tentacles of organized crime” is a more common expression than, say, the “tentacles of friendship.”

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 • Mar. 27, 2026

There were costume changes and choreographed dance numbers, even an intro where a moving tentacle flailed halfway out of her mouth.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2025

Her work includes creating a removable extra thumb and a tentacle arm.

From BBC • Sep. 19, 2024

"Repair-specific proliferative cells mainly contribute to the epithelium -- the thin outer layer -- of the newly formed tentacle."

From Science Daily • Dec. 22, 2023

The dark creature curls a second tentacle around the bowsprit in a powerful grasp, and tears the bowsprit right off the bow.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman