entwine
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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entwines,
present (3rd person singular)
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entwined,
past participle, past
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entwining
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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entwinesimple
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entwinessimple
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have entwinedperfect
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has entwinedperfect
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am entwiningprogressive
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are entwiningprogressive
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is entwiningprogressive
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have been entwiningperfect progressive
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has been entwiningperfect progressive
Past
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entwinedsimple
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had entwinedperfect
-
was entwiningprogressive
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were entwiningprogressive
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had been entwiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of entwine
Explanation
To entwine is to twist and tangle or weave together. When you hold hands with someone, you entwine your fingers together. A long-haired girl can entwine flowers in her curls, and she might love it when her pet snake entwines around her arm. When you knit a scarf, you entwine different colors of yarn together. There is also a figurative way to entwine: "Ever since I met you, I knew that our lives would entwine together!" Entwine combines the prefix en-, "make," and twine, "twisted strands," from the Old English twin, "double thread."
Vocabulary lists containing entwine
Stamped
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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The Last Olympian
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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:
“Making the decision to entwine your financial life with that of strangers can be a really bad idea,” said Maria Gray, who moved to the Upper Woodies about a year-and-a-half before the fires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
On the surface, they entail a diplomatic entente among nations, while at a deeper level they entwine themselves within the cultures, commerce and values of countless societies.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2024
Ms Yellen too has made clear that severing the deep economic ties that now entwine the US and Chinese economies would hurt everyone.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2023
And I brainstormed how to build a strong political narrative that would entwine with the emotional line, and also how to make it really funny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
Here may it wave, our boast, our pride And join in love together The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine The Maple Leaf forever.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
It entwines with healthy cells, meaning it can't be removed surgically.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
The wrap visually entwines the culture, community and colours of Notting Hill Carnival and the 75-year history of Windrush, TfL said.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023
Still, trade entwines the U.S. and Chinese economies.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 2, 2023
I love the way this simple, guitar-driven meditation on early spring entwines the personal with the more cosmic cycling of the seasons: “Springtime’s coming, that means you’ll be coming back around/New onions growing underground.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
My green cloud entwines with his silver one, and I feel the recent tension between us lift a little.
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
The entwined stories of Clara and Brahms call to mind their uneven fate, how her influence over what would come to be considered essential in music benefited him and ultimately shut her out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
"Progress and tradition can be nonlinear, even entwined," he says, "rather than strictly opposing forces."
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Raves have become entwined with D&B’s push to boost its numbers, a way the company is trying to distinguish itself in the ubercompetitive “eatertainment” landscape that it helped create.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
The U.S. case against a Mexican governor is entwined with the mysterious kidnapping of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Ernest was soon to become entwined in the increasingly supercharged atmosphere of suspicion and accusation that anticommunism brought to the Berkeley campus.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The message harked back to the old U.S. policy of further entwining the American and Chinese economies, breaking with an approach pioneered during the first Trump administration to untangle business ties, largely for national-security reasons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Pets and humans have ever-broader options for entwining their daily lives, routines and milestone moments.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2025
In the adept lithograph “Angels and Airplanes,” Russia’s Natalia Goncharova gives her blessing to the erupting conflagration by entwining unearthly militarism and Orthodox religiosity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
Komara changed the ancient art by entwining disparate textile traditions with an aesthetic all her own to create a modern Indonesian silhouette.
From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
Mum Olga sighed, entwining her arm in his.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
