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
Examples from the Web for tentacular
Contemporary Examples of tentacular
Initial charges against Sarkozy in that tentacular Bettencourt case had been dropped.
I spent years writing a novel in which three characters get pulled into an elaborate and tentacular conspiracy.
But even paranoid melodramatic self-aggrandizers sniff out nefarious and tentacular plots from time to time.
Historical Examples of tentacular
Tentacular -um: retractile processes on the larvae of Lepidoptera.
Explanation of Terms Used in EntomologyJohn. B. Smith
Small or large, rigid or flexible; joined or tentacular—all one.
TriplanetaryEdward Elmer Smith
They consist of tentacular organs placed in grooves on the under surface of the disc.
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4)Francis Maitland Balfour
The rate of transmission of tentacular waves is only one-half that of contraction-waves, viz.
Muscular irritability remains after tentacular irritability has disappeared, but it is then decidedly enfeebled.
tentacle
- 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
Word Origin for tentacle
Word Origin and History for tentacular
tentacle
1762, from Modern Latin tentaculum "feeler," from Latin tentare "to feel, try" (variant of temptare "to feel, try, test") + -culum, diminutive suffix.
tentacle
(tĕn′tə-kəl)- An elongated, flexible, unsegmented extension, as one of those surrounding the mouth or oral cavity of the squid, used for feeling, grasping, or locomotion.
tentacle
- 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.