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tantalus.

A stork of the genus Mycteria (formerly Tantalus), especially the American wood stork, Mycteria americana.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtæntələs/
  1. A stork of the genus Mycteria (formerly Tantalus), especially the American wood stork, Mycteria americana.

  2. A stand in which to lock up drink decanters while keeping them visible.

  3. Something of an evasive or retreating nature, something consistently out of reach; a tantalising thing.

Where this word comes from

From Latin Tantalus, from Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos, “Tantalus”), a Phrygian king in Greek mythology who was condemned to stand in a pool of water which receded every time he tried to drink, and with overhanging branches of fruit which pulled back whenever he tried to eat. Doublet of Tantalus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.