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

In the Season 1 finale, Joyce and Hopper (David Harbour) find Will inside Hawkins Library, buried beneath the flesh-like vines on the wall with some sort of tentacle pumping something into his mouth, just like he’s seen at the end of the opening sequence of Season 5. —Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025

The clip reveals Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) put that tentacle down his throat to pump something into the boy. —Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Nov. 2025

Slender Man himself emerged years earlier, in 2009, from a chilling online illustration depicting an unnaturally tall, faceless figure with long, tentacle-like limbs. —Jessica Sager, PEOPLE, 24 Nov. 2025

Nearby, a father pointed out a bright orange sea star to a fascinated youngster, and the waving tentacles of a sea anemone swayed with gentle currents of water moving through the tide pool. —Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Nov. 2025

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