entangle
Americanverb (used with object)
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entangles,
present (3rd person singular)
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entangled,
past participle, past
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entangling
present participle
verb
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to catch or involve in or as if in a tangle; ensnare or enmesh
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to make tangled or twisted; snarl
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to make complicated; confuse
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to involve in difficulties; entrap
Synonym Usage
See involve.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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entanglednessnoun
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entanglernoun
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interentangleverb (used with object)
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entangleableadjective
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unentangleableadjective
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unentangledadjective
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unentanglingadjective
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entangledlyadverb
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entanglinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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entanglesimple
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entanglessimple
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have entangledperfect
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has entangledperfect
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am entanglingprogressive
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are entanglingprogressive
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is entanglingprogressive
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have been entanglingperfect progressive
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has been entanglingperfect progressive
Past
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entangledsimple
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had entangledperfect
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was entanglingprogressive
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were entanglingprogressive
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had been entanglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of entangle
Explanation
To entangle is to snarl, intertwine with, or get caught in. Too often, dolphins entangle themselves in large fishing nets meant to catch tuna or swordfish. If you mean to trip your brother, you can entangle your leg around his, and when long-haired people don't brush it for days, it will snarl and entangle itself. A figurative way to entangle is to get caught up in a complicated situation: "I didn't mean to entangle you in this mess with my roommates!" Entangle's roots are en-, "put in" or "cause to be" and tangle, or "snarl."
Vocabulary lists containing entangle
Messenger
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: en-, em-
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s written in a broad way that could entangle Congress in other aspects of city governance, which probably isn’t a good use of lawmakers’ time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
By cooling and manipulating these atoms, scientists can entangle them and perform highly precise computations.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
Over an hour into a high-speed chase with the suspect, the sheriff’s department botched the deployment of a “grappler” net system intended to entangle the back wheels of the car to slow it down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
Around fifteen years ago, he and his collaborators were among the first to entangle the spins of extremely cold atoms.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 26, 2026
The overgrown limberjack dived at the golem’s feet, using both arms and legs to entangle Hugo’s ankles.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
It nestles and entangles itself in for the long haul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Those numbers, however, don't amount to much in the grand scheme, given the rate at which Louisiana "incarcerates and prosecutes and entangles people in the criminal legal system left and right every day," Romero said.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2024
A mass of knotted rope entangles like tentacles or whirs when swung by a spinning dancer.
From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
Such informal co-branding entangles our initiatives in Disney’s morally messy past and present.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 23, 2021
The unconscious entangles with its connections preferentially either those impressions and ideas of the foreconscious which have been left unnoticed as indifferent, or those that have soon been deprived of this attention through rejection.
From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Sigmund Freud
Season 2 of the Peabody Award-winning series about two hockey rivals entangled in a heated romance is still months away from premiering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Light can be disordered in one characteristic, such as the directions in which it travels, while still creating photons that are entangled through another characteristic, such as polarization.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
About the 10th or 12th time Spidey defeats a gaggle of adversaries by wrapping them up in webs, this series seems entangled in its own predictability.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Hernandez’s family in Lake Elsinore reported her missing multiple times after she became entangled with Burke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The difficulty was obvious: a silver chain attached to the bird's foot had become entangled in the twisted stub of a jutting root, and the bird was caught there by it, unable to move.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
Washington's warning about the dangers of entangling alliances was followed for 150 years.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
One term for the scams is pig butchering, because the scammers “fatten up” their targets by entangling them in romantic relationships online and dangling bogus financial schemes, then “butcher” them by disappearing with their money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
More consolidation – and more influential corporate giants – risks more deeply entangling the interests of profit-driven companies in America’s food system.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2024
If the hair is longer than 2 inches, bury it in the soil to avoid entangling birds’ feet, she recommends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
Not far away, Leader tentatively lifted one foot and found it free of the entangling vine.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
