entangle

entangle
    v 1: entrap; "Our people should not be mired in the past" [syn:
         {entangle}, {mire}]
    2: twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; "The child
       entangled the cord" [syn: {entangle}, {tangle}, {mat},
       {snarl}] [ant: {disentangle}, {straighten out}, {unsnarl}]
    

Entangle \En*tan"gle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Entangled}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Entangling}.]
   1. To twist or interweave in such a manner as not to be
      easily separated; to make tangled, confused, and
      intricate; as, to entangle yarn or the hair.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To involve in such complications as to render extrication
      a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to
      insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to
      entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. "Entangling
      alliances." --Washington.
      [1913 Webster]

            The difficulties that perplex men's thoughts and
            entangle their understandings.        --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            Allowing her to entangle herself with a person whose
            future was so uncertain.              --Froude.
      [1913 Webster]
    

134 Moby Thesaurus words for "entangle":
      absorb, addle, addle the wits, allure, bag, bait the hook, ball up,
      becloud, bedazzle, befuddle, bewilder, birdlime, bother, bug,
      burden, capture, catch, catch out, catch up, catch up in, clog,
      cloud, complicate, concern, confound, confuse, cramp, cripple,
      cumber, daze, dazzle, decoy, discombobulate, discomfit, discompose,
      disconcert, disorganize, disorient, disturb, draw in, embarrass,
      embrangle, embroil, encumber, engage, enmesh, ensnare, ensnarl,
      entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, enweb, fetter, flummox, flurry,
      fluster, flutter, fog, foul, foul up, fuddle, fuss, gin, hamper,
      hamstring, handicap, harpoon, hobble, hook, hook in, impede,
      implicate, interest, intertwine, interweave, inveigle, involve,
      knot, lame, land, lasso, lime, louse up, lumber, lure, maze, mesh,
      mess up, mist, mix up, moider, muck, muck up, muddle, nail, net,
      noose, perplex, perturb, pother, press down, put out, raise hell,
      ramify, rattle, ravel, rope, ruffle, sack, saddle with, screw up,
      shackle, snag, snare, snarl, snarl up, sniggle, spear,
      spread the toils, suck into, take, tangle, tangle up with,
      throw into confusion, toil, trammel, trap, trip, twist, unsettle,
      upset, weigh down, wind