Meaning & use
the octopus
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Meanings
nouncountable
a sea animal with a soft round body and eight long arms
Grammar: Countable: one octopus, two octopuses. 'The octopus' refers to a particular one or to the species in general.
Patterns
- an octopus
- the octopus
- a giant octopus
The octopus changed color to match the rocks.
We saw an octopus hiding in a small cave while diving.
The octopus uses its arms to catch crabs and other small sea animals.
nounsingularfigurative
a system or organization that has many parts spreading out and controlling many things
Grammar: Used figuratively, often with 'like': 'a network like an octopus.'
Patterns
- an octopus of a company
- spread like an octopus
The company grew into an octopus with offices on every continent.
Corruption spread like an octopus through the local government.
Word forms
| plural | octopuses |
|---|---|
| plural (formal) | octopodes |
Common combinations
- giant octopus
- A giant octopus can grow arms over three meters long.
- octopus arm
- Each octopus arm has many suckers.
- octopus ink
- The octopus releases ink to confuse its enemies.
- catch an octopus
- Local fishermen sometimes catch an octopus by accident.
- like an octopus
- The old pipes spread under the city like an octopus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- squid
- A squid is a similar sea animal but has a longer, thinner body and ten arms, and it swims differently.
- cuttlefish
- A cuttlefish is related but has an internal shell and eight arms plus two long feeding tentacles.
Word family
- octopoid adjective
- Shaped like or relating to an octopus.
Commonly confused: the octopus or octopi? the octopus or tentacle?
the octopus vs octopi
This is a common plural, but it treats a Greek word as if it were Latin. 'Octopuses' is safer in everyday writing.
the octopus vs tentacle
People often call octopus arms 'tentacles', but scientists usually call them arms because they have suckers along their whole length.
Practice
While diving, we saw ______ hiding in a small cave.
Choose one answer.
'Octopus' starts with a vowel sound, so the correct article is 'an'. 'An octopus' is ungrammatical, 'octopus' alone needs an article here, and 'the octopuses' suggests a known group rather than one animal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “the octopus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.