: something that resembles an octopus especially in having many centrally directed branches
an octopus of a corporation which lends, buys, produces, and sells—Atlantic
Illustration of octopus
octopus 1
Examples of octopus in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Inspired by octopus muscles The research comes from the lab of Caterina Lamuta, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa.—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 5 Sep. 2025 De Laurentiis shared a snap of their room service dinner, which included a green curry with vegetables on top and another multi-colored dish with octopus and garnishes of radish and onions on top.—Kimberlee Speakman, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025 Paul was able to lock in the octopus submission, Cena picked him up and went for the AA, Paul rolled through, Cena got out, and then Cena locked in the STF.—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025 Over the last half-billion years, squid, octopuses and their kin have evolved much like a fireworks display, with long, anticipatory pauses interspersed with intense, explosive changes.—Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 28 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for octopus
Share