tentacle

noun

ten·​ta·​cle ˈten-ti-kəl 

1

: any of various elongated 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

This ancient developmental program, deeply conserved, can also be radically repurposed, as seen in the star-nosed mole's sensory tentacles. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026

One set piece after another features rubbery creatures with heads like melting anvils and tentacles coming out of strange places, as if this, after 50 years, was still charming and awesome. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 24 June 2026

Photos and videos of the interior reveal buccaneer style down to the most minute details, like octopus tentacle door handles. — Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 24 June 2026

The teething toys are an off-white disc shape and have a grey ball in the center with six multi-colored, silicone tentacle-looking pull strings that run through the ball and seven soft push buttons, according to a description of the product. — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 20 June 2026

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

Rhymes for tentacle

• conventicle
• identical
• denticle

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

a

: 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