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inextricable

inextricable

3 8.9
Impossible to separate because things are very tightly joined
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪnˈɛkstrɪkəbl/
translation icon : inextricable
  • The resulting landscape transformation within the parks derived from the inextricable relationships among humans, elephants, livestock, and vegetation (Botkin 1990).
  • an inextricable link
  • an inextricable relationship
  • an inextricable connection

It is, you know, inextricable from faith.

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Examples

  • For us, the question of what it means to be human has become inextricable from the question of who we are to each other.

  • For Carlyle, problems of mind are inextricable from corporal, political, social, and moral problems.

    Academic text (1997)
  • There appears to be an inextricable relationship among these needs.

    Academic text (2001)
  • But society and its conception of reality are inextricable.

  • Thus, history and imagination form an inextricable link in the gaining of knowledge.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Meaning, while a slippery concept, seemed inextricable from human relationships and moral values.

  • Recognizing these differences, the two pursuits should nevertheless have an inextricable relationship.

    Academic text (1992)
  • As religion becomes an inextricable part of ethnic and/or national identity, it must be legally protected.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Towns, rivers, palaces, all mixed up in an inextricable whirl.

  • The two issues are inextricable; one cannot discuss climate change without mentioning economic policies.

Synonyms

inseparable
vsinextricable
46 3.4

Cannot be divided and kept apart, like joined parts or very close friends

focuses on being impossible to disentangle or escape from
indissoluble
vsinextricable
  • Formal
1 8.8

Cannot be ended or broken, for example a marriage

means being impossible to disentangle or escape rather than mere permanence
unreleasable
vsinextricable
7.9

Nothing can free it from something that holds or traps it

focuses on being impossible to disentangle or escape rather than only stuck
undetachable
vsinextricable
6.8

Not able to be separated from the thing it is attached to

stresses impossibility to disentangle or escape rather than simple attachment
infrangible
vsinextricable
9.9

Very hard to break into parts

focuses on being impossible to disentangle or escape rather than unbreakability

Antonyms

2 4.6

Able to be taken apart from something else

1 8.2

Able to be freed from a difficult or stuck situation

How Inseparable

inextricable
3 8.9
entangled
1 5.3
connected
2.5
separable
2 4.6

Surface Forms

inextricable positive

Morphology

inextricable = extricable (semi-transparent) = in + extric + able

The meaning is directly negative with 'in-', but the base adjective 'extricable' is uncommon and not transparent for many learners.

Etymology

The word inextricable starts with in- meaning 'not' and uses extricate meaning 'to get out'. Think of ex- 'out' as in exit, so inextricable is something you cannot get out of or pull apart, which is why it means impossible to disentangle or separate.