tendril

noun

ten·​dril ˈten-drəl 

1

: a leaf, stipule, or stem modified into a slender spirally coiling sensitive organ serving to attach a climbing plant to its support

2

: something suggestive of a tendril

creeping tendrils of fog

tendriled adjective

or tendrilled

ˈten-drəld 

tendrilous

ˈten-drə-ləs 

adjective

Illustration of tendril

• tendril 1

Examples of tendril in a Sentence

A few tendrils of hair framed her face.

Recent Examples on the Web

Entirely handcrafted from linen thread, tendrils of coral-like branches stretch within the columns internal rotunda from floor to ceiling. —Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2025

With tendrils of blonde hair always trying to escape her wimple, there’s an ineluctable sensuality about Agnieszka. —Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2025

The title track is an infectiously groovy, eighteen-minute improvisation for electric keyboards, in which quicksilver tendrils of melody appear and recede, shimmering in the style of Indian raga. —William Robin, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2025

The insatiable energy appetite of today’s AI is largely due to the demands of error correction — the need to keep ones as ones and zeros as zeros — since even the dead sand of silicon cannot escape the tendrils of entropy. —Anil Seth, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably modification of Middle French tendron bud, cartilage, alteration of Old French tenrum, from Vulgar Latin *tenerumen, from Latin tener tender — more at tender entry 1

First Known Use

1538, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

tendril

noun

ten·​dril ˈten-drəl 

1

: a slender leafless winding stem by which some climbing plants fasten themselves to a support

2

: something that curls like a tendril

tendrils of hair