Extricate

//ˈɛks.tɹɪ.keɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To free, disengage, loosen, or untangle. transitive

    "I finally managed to extricate myself from the tight jacket."

  2. 2
    release from entanglement of difficulty wordnet
  3. 3
    To free from intricacies or perplexity. rare

    "Your argumentation ... is invelloped with certain intricacies, that are not easie to be extricated."

Synonyms

All synonyms
disentangleabsolveavulsebail outbreak loosebreak out

Example

More examples

"Lucy commenced some apology for their long delay, but, conscience-struck, became confused as she proceeded; and when Ravenswood, coming to her assistance, endeavoured to render the explanation complete and satisfactory, he only involved himself in the same disorder, like one who, endeavouring to extricate his companion from a slough, entangles himself in the same tenacious swamp."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extrīcātus, past participle of extrīcō. Compare intricate.

More for "extricate"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.