- any of various elongated flexible organs that occur near the mouth in many invertebrates and are used for feeding, grasping, etc
- any of the hairs on the leaf of an insectivorous plant that are used to capture prey
- something resembling a tentacle, esp in its ability to reach out or grasp
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ten•ta•cle /ˈtɛntəkəl/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Zoologya slender, easily bent part like a limb on certain animals that serves as an organ to grab or feel things;
a feeler.
ten•ta•cle
(ten′tə kəl),USA pronunciation n.
ten•tac•u•lar
(ten tak′yə lər),USA pronunciation adj.
ten′ta•cle•like′, ten•tac′u•loid′, adj.
- Zoologyany of various slender, flexible processes or appendages in animals, esp. invertebrates, that serve as organs of touch, prehension, etc.; feeler.
- Botanya sensitive filament or process, as one of the glandular hairs of the sundew.
- Neo-Latin tentāculum, equivalent. to Latin tentā(re) (variant of temptāre to feel, probe) + -culum -cule2
- 1755–65
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
tentacle /ˈtɛntəkəl/ n
'tentacle' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):