tentacle

noun

ten·​ta·​cle ˈten-ti-kəl 

1

: any of various elongate flexible usually tactile or prehensile processes borne by invertebrate animals chiefly on the head or about the mouth

2

: something that resembles a tentacle especially in or as if in grasping or feeling out

corruption spreading its tentacles

3

: a sensitive hair or emergence on a plant (such as the sundew)

tentacled

ˈten-ti-kəld 

adjective

Examples of tentacle in a Sentence

The corporation's tentacles are felt in every sector of the industry.

the tentacles of organized crime

Recent Examples on the Web

They’ve been observed carrying venomous Portuguese man o’ war tentacles when hunting and use scare tactics to frighten and trick prey. —Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024

Build an evil-looking Baby Groot, complete with sharp teeth and tentacles. —Louryn Strampe, WIRED, 3 Feb. 2024

Some jolts of creepiness seem to have been tossed in as random arcana without explanation, notably the leech-like tentacles Noble plugs into his torso for kicks at bath time. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Dec. 2023

The new species was identified by its tube feet, tentacles and other subtle physical features, the study said. —Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024

Coming in contact with their tentacles can be extremely painful. —Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 20 Mar. 2024

There were lakes created in the outfield, docks leading from the baseball clubhouses to the ice and a shipwreck in center field with the tentacles of a Kraken pulling the ship underwater. —Tim Booth, USA TODAY, 1 Jan. 2024

These remarkable arms, devoid of stinging tentacles, are adept at enveloping prey such as plankton and small fish in depths up to 22,000 feet. —Anna Nordseth, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2024

How Slugs Eat Slugs use their tentacles, which contain primitive eyes and harbor their senses of smell, taste, and touch, to locate and identify food. —Paul Richards, Field & Stream, 29 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin tentāculum, from Latin temptāre, tentāre "to feel, test, examine" + -culum, suffix of instrument (going back to Indo-European *-tlom) — more at tempt

Note: The Latin word was used by linnaeus in the second edition (1740) of Systema naturae and may have been coined by him.

First Known Use

circa 1762, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

tentacle

noun

ten·​ta·​cle ˈtent-i-kəl 

1

: any of various long flexible structures that stick out usually around the head or mouth of an animal (as a jellyfish or sea anemone) and are used especially for feeling or grasping

2

: something that resembles a tentacle especially in or as if in grasping or feeling out

b

: a sensitive hair on a plant

tentacled

-kəld 

adjective

Medical Definition

tentacle

noun

ten·​ta·​cle ˈtent-i-kəl 

: any of various elongate flexible usually tactile or prehensile processes borne by animals chiefly on the head or about the mouth

especially : one of the threadlike processes bearing nematocysts that hang down from the margin of the umbrella of many jellyfishes