ten·ta·cle / ˈten(t)əkəl/ • n. a slender flexible limb or appendage in an animal, esp. around the mouth of an invertebrate, used for grasping, moving about, or bearing sense organs. ∎  (in a plant) a tendril or a sensitive glandular hair. ∎  something resembling a tentacle in shape or flexibility: trailing tentacles of vapor. ∎  (usu. tentacles) fig. an insidious spread of influence and control: the Party's tentacles reached into every nook and cranny of people's lives.DERIVATIVES: ten·ta·cled adj. [also in comb.] ten·tac·u·lar / tenˈtakyələr/ adj.ten·tac·u·late / tenˈtakyələt/ adj.

tentacle
1. In many invertebrate animals, a long, slender, flexible structure, often bearing sense receptors, used to obtain information about the immediate environment and often to obtain food.

2. In corals and sea anemones, a movable, tubular extension of the body cavity; tentacles are arranged in a ring around the mouth.

3. In Cephalopoda, a movable modification of the soft body; tentacles surround the mouth and are sometimes studded with sucker discs.

tentacle Any of the soft flexible appendages in aquatic invertebrate animals that are used principally for feeding. Water flows over the tentacles, which are able to capture food and direct it to the oral aperture. Tentacles are possessed by many cnidarians, some echinoderms (including sea cucumbers), and by cephalopod molluscs, in which the tentacles bear rows of suckers.

tentacle XVIII. f. L. tentāre, var. of temptāre feel, try, TEMPT; see -CLE