Adjacent Words

Entrap definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENTRAP', v.t. To catch as in a trap; to insnare; used chiefly or wholly in a figurative sense. To catch by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to entangle; to catch or involve in contradictions; in short, to involve in any difficulties from which an escape is not easy or possible. We are entrapped by the devices of evil men. We are sometimes entrapped in our own words.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: take or catch as if in a snare or trap; "I was set up!"; "The innocent man was framed by the police" [syn: ensnare, entrap, frame, set up]
2: catch in or as if in a trap; "The men trap foxes" [syn: trap, entrap, snare, ensnare, trammel]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle French entraper, from en- + trape trap Date: 1534 1. to catch in or as if in a trap 2. to lure into a compromising statement or act Synonyms: see catch

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (entrapped, entrapping) 1 catch in or as in a trap. 2 (often foll. by into + verbal noun) beguile or trick (a person). Derivatives: entrapper n. Etymology: OF entraper (as EN-(1), TRAP(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Entrap En*trap", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Entrapped; p. pr. & vb. n. Entrapping.] [Pref. en- + trap: cf. OF. entraper.] To catch in a trap; to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men. A golden mesh, to entrap the hearts of men. --Shak. Syn: To insnare; inveigle; tangle; decoy; entangle.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(entraps, entrapping, entrapped) If you entrap someone, you trick or deceive them and make them believe or do something wrong. (FORMAL) The police have been given extra powers to entrap drug traffickers... He claimed the government had entrapped him into doing something that he would not have done otherwise. VERB: V n, V n into n/-ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Ensnare, catch. 2. Inveigle, seduce, allure, entice. 3. Entangle, involve, perplex, embarrass, stagger, pose, nonplus, catch in difficulties, involve in contradictions.

Moby Thesaurus

allure, bag, bait, bait the hook, birdlime, burden, catch, catch out, catch up, cramp, cripple, cumber, decoy, embarrass, encumber, enmesh, ensnare, ensnarl, entangle, entice, entoil, entrammel, entwine, enweb, fetter, foul, gin, hamper, hamstring, handicap, harpoon, hobble, hook, hook in, impede, inveigle, involve, lame, land, lasso, lead, lime, lumber, lure, mesh, nail, net, noose, press down, rope, sack, saddle with, shackle, snag, snare, snarl, sniggle, spear, spread the toils, take, tangle, tangle up with, toil, toll, trammel, trap, trip, weigh down, wind