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

From the shameful Owens Valley water grab to a vast web of electric lines built to bring coal power to L.A., the city’s far-reaching tentacles have usually done more harm than good. —Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2024

Octopuses typically hunt by feel, stealthily sticking their tentacles into crevasses to feel, taste, and flush out prey such as crustaceans, snails, and small fish. —Byhannah Richter, science.org, 23 Sep. 2024

Depends on your income, the original cost of the shares and those tentacles. —William Baldwin, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024

The lake is shaped a bit like an octopus, and our destination, Villa La Angostura, is about an hour’s ride down one of its northern tentacles. —Mark Johanson, Robb Report, 30 Nov. 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