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

Most take a picture with Spider-Man, and everyone who does, every single one, shapes their own fingers into that Ozzy devil-horn thing and, as Spider-Man would, pretend to blast out a tendril of spider fluid. —Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2025

Elsewhere, organised crime still has its tendrils in many parts of the sport across the globe, and the misty-eyed reverence for benevolent local tycoons is a notion that went extinct before the Tasmanian tiger. —Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 2 June 2025

Their plot to dig holes in their parents’ love garden entangles them in the tendrils of their own blooming feelings. —Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2025

Meanwhile, in some of the pipes running under the town, new tendrils of cordyceps raise their ugly little spindles. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 13 Apr. 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