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Webster 1913 Edition

Intricate

In′tri-cate

,
Adj.
[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.
Syn. –
Intricate
,
Complex
,
Complicated
.
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.

In′tri-cate

,
Verb.
T.
To entangle; to involve; to make perplexing.
[Obs.]
It makes men troublesome, and
intricates
all wise discourses.
Jer. Taylor.

Webster 1828 Edition

Intricate

IN'TRICATE

,
Adj.
[L. intricatus, from intrico, to fold; in and tricor.] Entangled, involved; perplexed; complicated; obscure. We passed through intricate windings. We found the accounts intricate. The case on trial is intricate. The plot of a tragedy may be too intricate to please.

IN'TRICATE

,
Verb.
T.
To perplex; to make obscure. [Little used.]

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