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

Mexican cartels' determination to target Hawaii — despite its remote location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — illustrates a key money-making strategy to reach their tentacles far beyond major U.S. cities and into more remote states with fewer competitors and fewer police resources. —Beth Warren, The Courier-Journal, 27 June 2024

Descriptions include 150-foot-long monsters that caused shipwrecks by wrapping their tentacles around ships, plenty of sea serpents with giant heads and long tails, and one story from 1903 of a group of men who saw a creature with a series of wings, a head like an elephant and horns. —Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 24 June 2024

Remove any remaining tentacles and apply diluted vinegar if possible, health experts recommend. —Olivia Lloyd, Miami Herald, 20 June 2024

Crowe meets the moment with all the kaleidoscopic vulnerability that kid actor Linda Blair brought to Regan MacNeil more than 50 years ago, stress rippling across Tony’s face like a tentacle busting through skin even as the VFX fails to impress. —Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 20 June 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

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