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View synonyms for prehensile

prehensile

[ pri-hen-sil, -sahyl ]

adjective

  1. adapted for seizing, grasping, or taking hold of something:

    a prehensile tail.

  2. able to perceive quickly; having keen mental grasp.
  3. greedy; grasping; avaricious.


prehensile

/ prɪˈhɛnsaɪl; ˌpriːhɛnˈsɪlɪtɪ /

adjective

  1. adapted for grasping, esp by wrapping around a support

    a prehensile tail

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


prehensile

/ prē-hĕnsəl /

  1. Adapted for seizing, grasping, or holding, especially by wrapping around an object. The feet of many birds, the tails of monkeys, and the trunks of elephants are prehensile.


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Derived Forms

  • prehensility, noun
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Other Words From

  • pre·hen·sil·i·ty [pree-hen-, sil, -i-tee], noun
  • nonpre·hensile adjective
  • subpre·hensile adjective
  • subpre·hen·sili·ty noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of prehensile1

1781–85; < French préhensile (coined by Buffon), equivalent to Latin prehens ( us ) ( prehension ) + French -ile -ile
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Word History and Origins

Origin of prehensile1

C18: from French préhensile, from Latin prehendere to grasp
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Example Sentences

When given just a few cubes, the elephant picked them up with the prehensile tip of her trunk.

When offered just a few cubes, the elephant picked them up with the prehensile tip of the trunk.

The coaita has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on the posteriors: he has a very long prehensile tail.

Their tail is prehensile, naked underneath at the extremity, and very bushy over every other part.

His tail is not prehensile but flaccid, and half as long again as his head and body.

They grasped things with the strong prehensile grasp of the infant, rather than with the clutch of the miser.

The tall giraffe, with his prehensile lip, raised nearly twenty feet in the air, can browse upon these trees without difficulty.

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prehensibleprehension