INTRICATE DEFINITIONS - 12 definitions found
intricate adj 1: having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate; "intricate lacework" intricate c.1470, from L. intricatus "entangled," pp. of intricare "to entangle, perplex, embarrass," from in- "in" + tric? (pl.) "perplexities, hindrances, toys, tricks," of uncertain origin (cf. extricate). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) intricate adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin intricatus, past participle of intricare to entangle, from in- + tricae trifles, complications Date: 15th century 1. having many complexly interrelating parts or elements ; complicated <intricate machinery> <an intricate plot> 2. difficult to resolve or analyze Synonyms: see complex • intricately adverb • intricateness noun Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary intricate You use intricate to describe something that has many small parts or details. ...intricate patterns and motifs. ≠ simple ADJ: usu ADJ n • intricately ...intricately carved sculptures. ADV English Explanatory Dictionary intricate ˈɪntrɪkɪt adj. very complicated; perplexingly detailed. øøintricacy n. (pl. -ies). intricately adv. [ME f. L intricare intricat- (as IN-(2), tricare f. tricae tricks)] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Intricate \In"tri*cate\, a. [L. intricatus, p. p. of intricare to entangle, perplex. Cf. Intrigue, Extricate.] Entangled; involved; perplexed; complicated; difficult to understand, follow, arrange, or adjust; as, intricate machinery, labyrinths, accounts, plots, etc. His style was fit to convey the most intricate business to the understanding with the utmost clearness. --Addison. The nature of man is intricate. --Burke. Syn: Intricate, Complex, Complicated. Usage: A thing is complex when it is made up of parts; it is complicated when those parts are so many, or so arranged, as to make it difficult to grasp them; it is intricate when it has numerous windings and confused involutions which it is hard to follow out. What is complex must be resolved into its parts; what is complicated must be drawn out and developed; what is intricate must be unraveled. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Intricate \In"tri*cate\, v. t. To entangle; to involve; to make perplexing. [Obs.] It makes men troublesome, and intricates all wise discourses. --Jer. Taylor. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms intricate a. Entangled, complicated, involved, perplexed, obscure, mazy, difficult. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) intricate ˈɪntrɪkɪt adj. 1 involved, complicated, convoluted, entangled, tangled, knotty, complex, twisted, winding, tortuous, sinuous, anfractuous, labyrinthine, elaborate, Byzantine, fancy, ornate, rococo, Daedalian or Daedalean or Daedalic, Literary daedal or dedal: The plot was far too intricate and I became confused. 2 perplexing, puzzling, mystifying, enigmatic: The code was so intricate that even the computer needed hours to decipher the message. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 148 Moby Thesaurus words for "intricate": Byzantine, Daedalian, Herculean, abstruse, amalgamated, ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibious, anfractuous, arduous, baffling, balled up, bewildering, beyond one, blended, bothering, brutal, combined, complex, complicated, composite, compound, compounded, confounded, confounding, confused, confusing, conglomerate, convoluted, crabbed, cramp, critical, daedal, dappled, dedal, delicate, demanding, devious, difficile, difficult, discomposing, disconcerting, dismaying, distracting, disturbing, eclectic, elaborate, embarrassing, embrangled, enigmatic, entangled, equivocal, exacting, fancy, fifty-fifty, formidable, fouled up, garbled, gordian, hairy, half-and-half, hard, hard to understand, hard-earned, hard-fought, heterogeneous, implicated, indiscriminate, involuted, involved, ironic, jawbreaking, jumbled, knotted, knotty, laborious, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, loused up, many-faceted, many-sided, matted, mazy, mean, meandering, medley, messed up, mingled, miscellaneous, mixed, mixed up, motley, mucked up, multifaceted, multifarious, multinational, multiracial, mysterious, mystifying, no picnic, not easy, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, operose, ornate, overtechnical, patchy, perplexed, perplexing, perturbing, pluralistic, problematic, promiscuous, puzzling, ramified, rigorous, rococo, rough, roundabout, rugged, scrambled, screwed up, set with thorns, severe, sinuous, snarled, sophisticated, spiny, steep, strenuous, subtle, syncretic, tangled, tangly, thorny, thrown together, ticklish, toilsome, tortuous, tough, tricky, twisted, uphill, upsetting, varied, wicked, winding |
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