tentacle
Zoology. any of various slender, flexible processes or appendages in animals, especially invertebrates, that serve as organs of touch, prehension, etc.; feeler.
Botany. a sensitive filament or process, as one of the glandular hairs of the sundew.
Origin of tentacle
1Other words from tentacle
- ten·tac·u·lar [ten-tak-yuh-ler], /tɛnˈtæk yə lər/, adjective
- ten·ta·cle·like, ten·tac·u·loid, adjective
- in·ter·ten·tac·u·lar, adjective
- sub·ten·tac·u·lar, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use tentacle in a sentence
Initial charges against Sarkozy in that tentacular Bettencourt case had been dropped.
France’s Ex-Prez Sarkozy Placed Under Formal Investigation for Corruption | Tracy McNicoll | July 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI spent years writing a novel in which three characters get pulled into an elaborate and tentacular conspiracy.
Amazon’s Fight With Hachette Strands An Author In The Crossfire | David Shafer | June 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut even paranoid melodramatic self-aggrandizers sniff out nefarious and tentacular plots from time to time.
Amazon’s Fight With Hachette Strands An Author In The Crossfire | David Shafer | June 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTentacular cirri similarly formed, as is also the first neurocirrus, the latter less clavate below the slender tip.
Tentacular cirri and notocirri similar in form to the median tentacle.
Ventral tentacular cirrus of second somite of a thin or foliaceous and asymmetrical form.
Antenn, tentacular cirri and notocirri banded at base and distally with black.
Ventral tentacular cirrus of II of a thick, leaf-shaped form, sublanceolate in outline and much like the notocirri.
British Dictionary definitions for tentacle
/ (ˈtɛntəkəl) /
any of various elongated flexible organs that occur near the mouth in many invertebrates and are used for feeding, grasping, etc
any of the hairs on the leaf of an insectivorous plant that are used to capture prey
something resembling a tentacle, esp in its ability to reach out or grasp
Origin of tentacle
1Derived forms of tentacle
- tentacled, adjective
- tentacle-like or tentaculoid (tɛnˈtækjʊˌlɔɪd), adjective
- tentacular (tɛnˈtækjʊlə), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for tentacle
[ tĕn′tə-kəl ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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