Synonyms

entangle

American

[en-tang-guhl] / ɛnˈtæŋ gəl /

verb (used with object)

to make tangled; ensnarl; intertwine.
to involve in or as in a tangle; ensnare; enmesh.

to be entangled by intrigue.
to involve in difficulties.
to confuse or perplex.

Synonyms:

bewilder

entangle British

/ ɪnˈtæŋɡəl /

verb

to catch or involve in or as if in a tangle; ensnare or enmesh
to make tangled or twisted; snarl
to make complicated; confuse
to involve in difficulties; entrap

"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

Synonym Usage

See involve.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of entangle

First recorded in 1530–40; en- ¹ + tangle ¹

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."

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Vocabulary lists containing entangle

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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:

entangle entangles entangled entangling

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

“The net is designed to entangle itself on any of the rotating objects in the rear of the car,” Santistevan said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026

Silicon vacancy center-based network nodes can catch, store and entangle bits of quantum information while correcting for signal loss.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024

Surely Forest would not entangle the poor woman yet.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry

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

It has put banks on high alert, though their efforts to catch the fraud also routinely entangles innocent customers, causing institutions to suddenly freeze or shut down customer accounts in the process.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2023

But the operatic plot is a skein that sometimes entangles its colorful character and other times leaves them panting with exhaustion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2023

Tell Wit how much she wrangles In fickle points of niceness; Tell Wisdom she entangles Herself in over niceness; And if they do reply Then give them both the lie.

From Tablets by Amos Bronson Alcott

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

The concentrated sunlight can then be directed onto the tiny nonlinear crystal responsible for producing the entangled photons.

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

Archer’s main competitor in the air taxi space is Joby, a startup based in Santa Cruz that has been entangled in a bitter legal battle with Archer for more than a year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

His political advisers easily entangled him in theoretical labyrinths.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Airstrikes have long been a go-to way to project military power for U.S. administrations that want to minimize the risk of American casualties and avoid entangling ground wars.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026

Washington's warning about the dangers of entangling alliances was followed for 150 years.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026

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

Long streamers of ebony fabric flowed from the spectral woman, entangling nearby fairies.

From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023