tentacle
[ten-tuh-kuh l]
- 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.
Show More
Origin of tentacle
1755–65; < New Latin tentāculum, equivalent to Latin tentā(re) (variant of temptāre to feel, probe) + -culum -cule2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tentacular
Contemporary Examples
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
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
Show More
Word Origin
C18: from New Latin tentāculum, from Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre to feel
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
Word Origin and History for tentacular
tentacle
n.
1762, from Modern Latin tentaculum "feeler," from Latin tentare "to feel, try" (variant of temptare "to feel, try, test") + -culum, diminutive suffix.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.