TENTACLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tentacle mean? 

• TENTACLE (noun)
  The noun TENTACLE has 2 senses:

1. something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp and hold

2. any of various elongated tactile or prehensile flexible organs that occur on the head or near the mouth in many animals; used for feeling or grasping or locomotion

  Familiarity information: TENTACLE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TENTACLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that acts like a tentacle in its ability to grasp and hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

caught in the tentacles of organized crime

Hypernyms ("tentacle" is a kind of...):

grasp; grip (an intellectual hold or understanding)

Derivation:

tentacular (of or relating to or resembling tentacles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of various elongated tactile or prehensile flexible organs that occur on the head or near the mouth in many animals; used for feeling or grasping or locomotion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("tentacle" is a kind of...):

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tentacle"):

antenna; feeler (one of a pair of mobile appendages on the head of e.g. insects and crustaceans; typically sensitive to touch and taste)

barbel; feeler (slender tactile process on the jaws of a fish)

Derivation:

tentacular (of or relating to or resembling tentacles)

 Context examples 

The tentacles of jellyfish galaxies are produced in galaxy clusters by a process called ram pressure stripping.

(Supermassive Black Holes Feed on Cosmic Jellyfish, ESO)

It seems the mechanism that produces the tentacles of gas and newborn stars that give these galaxies their nickname also makes it possible for the gas to reach the central regions of the galaxies, feeding the black hole that lurks in each of them and causing it to shine brilliantly.

(Supermassive Black Holes Feed on Cosmic Jellyfish, ESO)