Hypertext Webster Gateway: "intricate"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Intricate \In"tri*cate\, a. [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.
The nature of man is intricate. --Burke.
Syn: {Intricate}, {Complex}, {Complicated}.
Usage: 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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Intricate \In"tri*cate\, v. t.
To entangle; to involve; to make perplexing. [Obs.]
It makes men troublesome, and intricates all wise
discourses. --Jer. Taylor.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
intricate
adj : highly involved or intricate; "the Byzantine tax structure";
"convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning";
"intricate needlework"; "an intricate labyrinth of
refined phraseology"; "the plot was too involved"; "a
knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine
maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir
Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous
negotiations lasting for months" [syn: {Byzantine}, {convoluted},
{involved}, {knotty}, {labyrinthine}, {tangled}, {tortuous}]
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