entrapment
Americannoun
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Law. the luring by a law-enforcement agent of a person into committing a crime.
Defense lawyers in cases involving sting operations often accuse the F.B.I. of entrapment.
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an act or process of entrapping.
Depth filters consist of pressed fibers, which use entrapment to remove suspended particles and prevent clogging.
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a state of being entrapped.
nerve entrapment;
sea turtle entrapment.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of entrapment
Explanation
Entrapment is a legal term that describes what happens when someone is tricked into committing a crime. Police officers have to be careful not to use techniques that might be seen as entrapment. A defense attorney might try to prove that her client was a victim of entrapment in order to get charges dropped or to influence a jury to find the defendant not guilty. Legally, entrapment is considered unfair because it influences someone (who otherwise wouldn't) to break the law. The word's been around since the 16th century, meaning "being caught in a trap," but the legal definition arose toward the end of the 19th century.
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:
In 1999, Judge Stephen Robbins told Alford that although entrapment had played a significant part in the sting, he "willingly went along with the idea".
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
And some of them were entrapment, I would say.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
An extreme yet common consequence of this financial entrapment is hysterectomies.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2024
Raised in a small enclosure, at least during their larval stage, they offer a ready metaphor for entrapment, inhabiting a hothouse environment that exists for the stimulation of anyone who peers inside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
A troop of baboons ran with arched tails flying as they zigzagged, not yet understanding their entrapment.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
City manager Bert Cunningham said the worst damage was east of the town, with as many as four entrapments reported.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2022
The decades-old trail of paperwork warning about elevator entrapments first came to light in 2001 with a boy’s death in an Otis elevator in Bethel, Maine.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2019
In a few cases, the changes might seem more stringent, but the intent is actually to avoid penalty entrapments.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 13, 2017
The towns, in Boone’s eyes as in those of many of the Borderer settlers, were rife with legal entrapments and predatory businessmen.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2016
These ice entrapments are a short-term boon for the bears, giving them an easy source of fatty food they can just scoop out of a hole in the ice.
From National Geographic ● Sep. 4, 2015
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.
