inextricable

[ in-ik-strik-uh-buhl, in-ek-stri-kuh‐ ]

adjective

1. from which one cannot extricate oneself:

   an inextricable maze.

2. incapable of being disentangled, undone, loosed, or solved:

   an inextricable knot.

3. hopelessly intricate, involved, or perplexing:

   inextricable confusion.

inextricable

/ ˌɪnɛksˈtrɪkəbəl /

adjective

1. not able to be escaped from

   an inextricable dilemma

2. not able to be disentangled, etc

   an inextricable knot

3. extremely involved or intricate

Derived Forms

• ˌinexˈtricably, adverb
• ˌinextricaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• in·ex·tri·ca·bil·i·ty [in-ik-strik-, uh, -, bil, -i-tee], in·ex·tri·ca·ble·ness noun
• in·ex·tri·ca·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of inextricable¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; a late Middle English word, from the Latin word inextrīcābilis; in- ³, extricable

Example Sentences

Far from a dusty tome plodding through plate tectonics, the book teems with life as Dvorak establishes inextricable links between geology and biology.

From Science News

In reality, the crisis of homelessness is inextricable from the existing national shortage of affordable housing, which itself is the result of numerous policy choices made every day by local and state governments.

From Vox

Reading Gates next to Robinson underlines the inextricable link between inequality and climate change.

From MIT Technology Review

Not all officers agree that chokeholds are an inextricable part of policing.

From ProPublica

One is the complex and often unpredictable payments that are inextricable from American health care.

From Fortune

Do you really believe this is true or because of his body of work, which was inextricable from African American influence?

From The Daily Beast

But there is a larger point behind the move: Car brands are inextricable from national stereotypes.

From The Daily Beast

“British folklore has this very inextricable link to nature and the elements,” he told The Daily Beast.

From The Daily Beast

We see abortion as inextricable from the full spectrum of medical care a woman might need in her lifetime.

From The Daily Beast

Place can often be inextricable with our conception of certain artists and movements.

From The Daily Beast

Thus all about us is the moving and shifting spectacle of riches and poverty, side by side, inextricable.

From Project Gutenberg

To die as soon as possible, to escape shame by a complete disappearance, to unravel in this way an inextricable situation.

From Project Gutenberg

How was he to risk his vessel in the depth of black night in that inextricable labyrinth, that ambuscade of shoals?

From Project Gutenberg

Not to mention the inextricable Julich-and-Berg business, which is a standing controversy between them.

From Project Gutenberg

The bird dropped at last quite suddenly, and Eustace saw fingers and feathers rolled into an inextricable mass on the floor.

From Project Gutenberg