entanglement
/ɪnˈtæŋ.ɡəl.mənt/ IELTSAcademic
noun
A situation in which things are twisted together or caught together and are hard to separate. It can also mean a complicated connection between people, problems, or events.
- The wires were in a bad entanglement.
- Their legal entanglement lasted for years.
- The fish escaped the net's entanglement.
Adinary Nuance
Use entanglement when something is not just complicated, but tightly mixed or hard to separate. It is stronger and more specific than connection or relationship. In formal writing, it often suggests trouble, complexity, or unwanted involvement.
In other languages
- Vietnamese
- sự rối rắm
- Spanish
- enredo
- Chinese
- 纠缠
- Japanese
- 絡まり
- Korean
- 얽힘
Etymology
Entanglement comes from the verb entangle, which appeared in English in the 1600s. It combines en- with tangle, showing the idea of becoming twisted or caught.
Common phrases
legal entanglementemotional entanglemententanglement withquantum entanglement
Synonyms
Related words
Frequently asked questions
- Is entanglement a formal word?
- Yes, it is more common in formal writing, science, and legal contexts.
- What is the difference between entanglement and involvement?
- Involvement is general participation. Entanglement suggests a harder, messier, or unwanted connection.
- Can entanglement describe relationships?
- Yes. It can describe a complicated or difficult relationship.
- What does quantum entanglement mean?
- It is a science term for a link between particles, even when they are far apart.