- that one cannot extricate oneself from
- that cannot be disentangled or untied
Origin of inextricable
Classical Latin inextricabilis from in-, in- + extricabilis
adjective
- An example of inextricable is a tangle of hair on a long haired animal.
- An example of inextricable is being stuck in a meeting for five hours that you cannot leave.
The definition of inextricable is something that cannot be untied or something you are unable to escape from.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"inextricable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 04 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable>.
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inextricable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable
inextricable
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"inextricable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 04 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable>.
APA Style
inextricable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable
inextricable
adjective
- a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit.b. Difficult or impossible to disentangle or untie: an inextricable tangle of threads.c. Too involved or complicated to solve: an inextricable problem.
- Unavoidable; inescapable: bound together by an inextricable fate.
Related Forms:
- in·ex′tri·ca·bil′i·ty in·ex′tri·ca·ble·ness
noun
- in·ex′tri·ca·bly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"inextricable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 04 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable>.
APA Style
inextricable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable
Adjective
- (of a knot etc) impossible to untie or disentangle
- (of a problem) impossible to solve
- (of a maze etc) impossible to escape from
Origin
From Middle French inextricable, from Latin inextricabilis
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"inextricable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 04 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable>.
APA Style
inextricable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inextricable
Sentence Examples
- From this criginal task arose a second, that of affording shelter to the fragments of peoples heaped together in inextricable confusion in this corner of the earth.
- Ormonde was forced to surrender Dublin to the Parliamentarians (July 1647), and the inextricable knot awaited Cromwell's sword.
- The captive was, however, by no means powerless; by refusing canonical institution to the French bishops he involved the ecclesiastical system of Napoleon in inextricable confusion.
- This zoological group includes Gordian worms which are found swimming in an undulatory manner or coiling round water-weeds in ponds and puddles, or knotted together in an apparently inextricable coil.
- Hence arise infinite and inextricable difficulties which obstruct the study of canon law; an immense field for controversy and litigation; a thousand perplexities of conscience; and finally contempt for the laws."' We know how the Vatican council had to separate without approaching the question of canonical reform; but this general desire for a recasting of the ecclesiastical code was taken up again on the initiative of Rome.
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WORDS NEAR inextricable IN THE DICTIONARY
- inextricable
- inextinguishable
- inextinguishably
- inextirpable