entrap
Americanverb (used with object)
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to catch in or as in a trap; ensnare.
The hunters used nets to entrap the lion.
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to bring unawares into difficulty or danger.
He entrapped himself in the web of his own lies.
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to lure into performing an act or making a statement that is compromising or illegal.
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to draw into contradiction or damaging admission.
The questioner entrapped her into an admission of guilt.
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Law. to catch by entrapment.
verb
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to catch or snare in or as if in a trap
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to lure or trick into danger, difficulty, or embarrassment
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of entrap
From the Middle French word entraper, dating back to 1525–35. See en- 1, trap 1
Explanation
If you entrap someone, you entangle or snare them, as if you'd caught them in a trap. Your family might entrap you in their elaborate summer plans, despite your wish to take a vacation all by yourself. The expectations of other people — or your own high standards — can entrap you into the feeling you should always do well in school or pursue material success. Another way one person might entrap another is more deliberate, by setting a trap or playing a trick. A police officer might entrap a suspect, persuading him to commit a crime in order to make an arrest. The Old French root is entraper, "catch in a trap."
Vocabulary lists containing entrap
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.
Entrap, en-trap′, v.t. to catch, as in a trap: to ensnare: to entangle.—ns.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
If you had told me yesterday, "There's one You needs must circumvent and practise with, Entrap by policies, if you would worm The truth out: and that one is—Mildred!"
From A Blot in the 'Scutcheon by Browning, Robert
Thus have you in the Temptations of our Lord, seen the principal of those Devices, which the Devil has to Entrap our Souls.
From The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches by Mather, Cotton
They'd snare the moon, and catch the immortal sun With madder brown and pale vermilion, Entrap an English evening's magic hush .
From The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke by Brooke, Rupert
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.
