entangle
Americanverb (used with object)
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entangles,
present (3rd person singular)
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entangled,
past participle, past
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entangling
present participle
verb
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to catch or involve in or as if in a tangle; ensnare or enmesh
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to make tangled or twisted; snarl
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to make complicated; confuse
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to involve in difficulties; entrap
Synonym Usage
See involve.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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entanglednessnoun
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entanglernoun
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interentangleverb (used with object)
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entangleableadjective
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unentangleableadjective
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unentangledadjective
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unentanglingadjective
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entangledlyadverb
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entanglinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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entanglesimple
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entanglessimple
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have entangledperfect
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has entangledperfect
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am entanglingprogressive
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are entanglingprogressive
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is entanglingprogressive
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have been entanglingperfect progressive
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has been entanglingperfect progressive
Past
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entangledsimple
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had entangledperfect
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was entanglingprogressive
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were entanglingprogressive
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had been entanglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of entangle
Explanation
To entangle is to snarl, intertwine with, or get caught in. Too often, dolphins entangle themselves in large fishing nets meant to catch tuna or swordfish. If you mean to trip your brother, you can entangle your leg around his, and when long-haired people don't brush it for days, it will snarl and entangle itself. A figurative way to entangle is to get caught up in a complicated situation: "I didn't mean to entangle you in this mess with my roommates!" Entangle's roots are en-, "put in" or "cause to be" and tangle, or "snarl."
Vocabulary lists containing entangle
Messenger
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: en-, em-
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
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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:
It’s written in a broad way that could entangle Congress in other aspects of city governance, which probably isn’t a good use of lawmakers’ time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
“The net is designed to entangle itself on any of the rotating objects in the rear of the car,” Santistevan said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Mulino has insisted the canal's neutrality is intact and has urged Washington not to entangle Panama in its rivalry with Beijing.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
Around fifteen years ago, he and his collaborators were among the first to entangle the spins of extremely cold atoms.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 26, 2026
I disentangle my finger so that I can entangle all the others until our palms are pressed against each other.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
Even if the property still stands, there is the possibility that it has been owned by multiple Cuban households over the decades, a long chain of custody that entangles original ownership.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Those numbers, however, don't amount to much in the grand scheme, given the rate at which Louisiana "incarcerates and prosecutes and entangles people in the criminal legal system left and right every day," Romero said.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2024
It has put banks on high alert, though their efforts to catch the fraud also routinely entangles innocent customers, causing institutions to suddenly freeze or shut down customer accounts in the process.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2023
A series of gates entangles the helpers with the original qubits, which effectively transfers noise from the system to the helpers.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022
Hurried on by the headlong impetuosity of his temper, he entangles himself in these perplexities; and thinks to penetrate them, not by skill and patience, but by open force.
From The Life of Friedrich Schiller Comprehending an Examination of His Works by Thomas Carlyle
Joby, based in Santa Cruz, has been entangled in several lawsuits recently, including multiple with its San José-based rival Archer Aviation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
This is the second entangled whale the tour operator has witnessed since August, the company said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The team also intends to develop on-chip photonic quantum circuits capable of performing entangled measurements, potentially making the technology more compact and easier to integrate into future quantum systems.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Using this symmetry, the team theoretically developed an entangled measurement based on a photonic quantum circuit.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
The tree whose leaf umbrellas had curled around, under and over her fire escape had been cut down because the housewives complained that wash on the lines got entangled in its branches.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Airstrikes have long been a go-to way to project military power for U.S. administrations that want to minimize the risk of American casualties and avoid entangling ground wars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
More consolidation – and more influential corporate giants – risks more deeply entangling the interests of profit-driven companies in America’s food system.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2024
If the hair is longer than 2 inches, bury it in the soil to avoid entangling birds’ feet, she recommends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
In the new paper, the team reports near-flawless performance of its two-qubit entangling gates with extremely low error rates.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2023
Not far away, Leader tentatively lifted one foot and found it free of the entangling vine.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
