Etymology
Origin of intricacy
First recorded in 1595–1605; intric(ate) + -acy
Explanation
The noun intricacy means a quality of being complex or elaborately detailed. You could compliment the intricacy of your friend's complicated hairdo. A delicate piece of jewelry, twisted with decorative strands of silver, can be admired for its intricacy, and an overly complex piece of legislation might be criticized for its intricacy. You could also talk about the intricacy of the universe, or the intricacy of the human body. Intricacy comes from the Latin root word intricatus, which means "entangled."
Vocabulary lists containing intricacy
Power Suffix: -acy
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War Horse
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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.
But the Houthis had developed a network to track American warplanes with observers, optics and infrared sensors whose intricacy U.S. officials didn’t entirely understand.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026
But perhaps the M1 and M4 mirrors best express the level of intricacy and precision required.
From BBC • Aug. 19, 2024
Instead, the enticement of this sort of think piece delights not in the brutality of violence but in the intricacy of the artful con.
From Slate • Jul. 22, 2024
The book is unwieldy and far too complicated for a musical that shifts gears into songs that have their own lyrical intricacy.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2024
But before the grandeur and intricacy of Nature, he was, like Ptolemy and Kepler, exhilarated as well as disarmingly modest.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
