Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to embrangle

to embrangle

9.9
To make something more confused or tangled
  • verb
  • /ɪmˈbræŋɡəl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : enredar
  • His attempt to explain the rules seemed to embrangle the new members more than clarify them.

Examples

  • - To embrangle me as badly as she could.

    Lady in the Lake (1946)

  • - Embrangle you?

    Lady in the Lake (1946)

  • The complicated instructions only served to embrangle the team further.

  • The unexpected changes to the project timeline will embrangle our plans for the next meeting.

Synonyms

to complicate
vsto embrangle
101 4.1

To make something harder to understand or do

leans more toward creating confusion and messy entanglement rather than just difficulty
to muddle
vsto embrangle
33 4.8

Mix things up so they are unclear

adds the sense of twisted or entangled confusion beyond mere unclear mixing
to tangle
vsto embrangle
28 4.7

To make a story or idea hard to understand

covers the same confusion but also abstract complexity not just mixing
to snarl
vsto embrangle
6 7.1

To make something more confused or tangled

is broader, meaning to produce confusion or greater complexity overall
to entangle
vsto embrangle
6 4.9

Twist things together so they are hard to separate

focuses more on causing confusion and complication beyond physical twists
to knot
vsto embrangle
2 6.5

To make something tangled and difficult to understand

can apply more widely to causing confusion rather than only tight joins
to snarl up
vsto embrangle
  • UK
1 7.8

Make things tangled or blocked so progress slows

is a general action that makes things more complex or confused
to ravel
vsto embrangle
8.4

To make a situation or story more confusing

is more general, applying to confusion as well as joined parts
to remuddle the issue
vsto embrangle
9.3

To make a problem more confusing instead of clearer

is used for making things complex from the start or in general
to muddy up
vsto embrangle
  • Informal
6.7

To make an idea or situation unclear and confusing

involves creating deeper complication and intertwined confusion rather than simple obscuring

Antonyms

to simplify
99 2.5

Make something easier to understand or use

to untangle
12 4.9

To free someone from a difficult or confusing situation

How Entangled

snarl
3 7.7
to ensnare
13 7.7
to embroil
22 7.7
to embrangle
  • Archaic
9.9
to entangle
24 6.3
to tangle
46 3.7

Surface Forms

embrangle infinitive
embrangled past
embrangled past participle
embrangling present participle
embrangles third person singular

Morphology

embrangle = brangle (semi-transparent) = em + brangle

Formally decomposable as the productive prefix 'em-' + 'brangle', but 'brangle' is rare/archaic so average learners are unlikely to know the base.

Etymology

Embrangle starts with em- meaning 'in' and ends with brangle, which you can remember by thinking of the common word tangle or a 'bramble' that knots things up. So to embrangle something is to put it 'into a tangle' and make it more confused or entangled.