Dictionary › P › prehensile

prehensile

adjective
Quick answer

As an adjective, prehensile means able to take hold of and clasp objects.

Meanings of prehensile

3 meanings

adjective

  1. zoologyAble to take hold of and clasp objects; adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object.

    “Some monkeys have prehensile tails which they use to pick things up.”

  2. Having a keen intellect

    “poets — those gifted strangely prehensile men”

  3. Immoderately desirous of acquiring e.g. wealth

    “they are avaricious and will do anything for money”

    “casting covetous eyes on his neighbor's fields”

    “a grasping old miser”

    Similar: avaricious, covetous, grabby, grasping, greedy

Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).

Synonyms by meaning

adjective: immoderately desirous of acquiring e.g. wealth
avariciouscovetousgrabbygraspinggreedy
Oppositesnonprehensile

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Nearby words

prefigureprefixpreformprefrontalpregnancypregnantprehensionprehistoricprehistoryprejudgmentprejudiceprejudiced