embroil
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring into discord or conflict; involve in contention or strife.
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to throw into confusion; complicate.
verb
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to involve (a person, oneself, etc) in trouble, conflict, or argument
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to throw (affairs) into a state of confusion or disorder; complicate; entangle
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of embroil
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Middle French embrouiller, equivalent to em- em- 1 + brouiller “to quarrel”; see broil 2
Explanation
To embroil is to drag someone into a mess. If you're embroiled, you're in deep. Being embroiled is far worse, far messier, and generally far more long-term, than simply being "involved" with something. Nothing good can come of being embroiled. Embroil can refer to any sort of situation — romantic entanglements, political events, scandals — but it's probably most commonly used in reference to lawsuits. The classic lawsuit that embroiled its participants was the fictional case of Jarndyce. v. Jarndyce, in Dickens's novel Bleak House — which went on for so many generations that all the characters' money was eaten up entirely by lawyers' fees. Let us repeat: nothing good comes of getting embroiled.
Vocabulary lists containing embroil
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 12, List 2
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Fast Food Nation
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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.
Those investments, experts say, help prevent regional conflict and war that may embroil the U.S.
From Salon • May 29, 2025
Desperate not to embroil a small, vulnerable immigrant community in an intense national controversy, they tried to avoid the issue.
From Slate • Apr. 10, 2025
Prosecutors say the bid-rigging scandal arrests have just begun and could embroil more companies.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 7, 2023
"We need to avoid a major conflict that will embroil the United States or indeed the countries in the region," presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told the US-based Arab Gulf States Institute last Thursday.
From BBC • Dec. 13, 2021
The Turks were advancing on the east, the French King was harassing him on the west, and the Pope always trying to embroil him with other kingdoms and to drain his Empire.
From A Short History of Germany by Parmele, Mary Platt
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.
