embroil
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: PIE word
 *h₁én
The verb is borrowed from French embrouiller (“to entangle”), from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in; into’)) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”) (ultimately from Vulgar Latin *brodiculāre, from *brodicāre, from Late Latin brodium (“broth, stew; mixture”), from Frankish *broþ (“broth”), from Proto-Germanic *bruþą (“stock, broth”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”)).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Italian imbrogliare
* Spanish embrollar
Inflected forms:
form: embroils
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: embroiling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: embroilest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: embroiledst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: embroils
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: embroileth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: embroil
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: embroiling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: embroiled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To bring (something) into a state of confusion or uproar; to complicate, to confuse, to jumble.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Rumor next and Chance, / And Tumult and Confuſion all imbroild, / And Diſcord with a thouſand various mouths.
Your Enemies had ſo embroyl'd the management of your Office, that they look'd on your Advancement as the Inſtrument of your Ruine.
[It is ill-governed speech] chiefly which perverteth justice, which soweth dissensions, which raiseth all bad passions and animosities, which embroileth the world in seditions and factions, by which men wrong and abuse, deceive and seduce, defame and disgrace one another, […]
There are in Rome Tvvo Sets of Antiquities, the Chriſtian and the Heathen. The former, tho' of a freſher Date, are ſo embroil'd vvith Fable and Legend, that one receives but little Satisfaction from ſearching into 'em.
Novv all at once tremendous ſcenes unfold; / Thunder'd the deeps, the ſmoking billovvs roll'd! / Tumultuous vvaves embroil'd the belovving flood, / All trembling, deafen'd, and aghaſt vve ſtood!
Then vvould vve try to ſcan the moral VVorld, / VVhich, tho' to us it ſeems embroil'd, moves on / In higher order; fitted, and impell'd, / By VVisdom's fineſt hand, and iſſuing all / In general Good.
Buckingham bit his lip, for he saw the introduction of Lady Derby was likely to confuse and embroil every preparation which he had arranged for his defence; […]
[H]ow shall I fail to be naturally hated by her, when I stand by thee near thy foot, and she, childless as she is, beholds thy beloved one with bitter jealousy, and then either thou abandonest me and hast regard to thy wife, or upholdest me, and embroilest thy house?
Susan is caught up in a plot that already exists, a type of predestination, but she is also disruptive of that plot, embroiling it by making undecidable a series of otherwise clear-cut oppositions: […]
gloss: To cause (someone) to be drawn into or involved in a difficult situation or state of contention.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Avoid him. He will embroil you in his fights.
Then vvhen ſhe found her Venom ſpread ſo far, / The Royal Houſe embroil'd in Civil VVar: / Rais'd on her dusky VVings ſhe cleaves the Skies, / And ſeeks the Palace vvhere young Turnus lies.
VVhat, and imbroil myſelf vvith a Man of Mr. B’s Povver and Fortune! No, not I, I’ll aſſure you!
The effects of dance's narrativization continue to reverberate throughout the contemporary world of dance where the opposition between "abstract" and "representational" movement vocabularies embroils choreographers and critics in endless dilemmas concerning dance's significance.
Whether it's palatable for the vice-chairman of Hillary [Clinton]'s presidential campaign to be embroiled in allegations of conflicts of interest, obtaining patronage jobs, or misrepresenting time worked remains to be seen.
[Sean] Connery could by now command massive fees and gained a reputation as a ruthless contract negotiator. He hated the idea of being manipulated by the film industry and was regularly embroiled in lawsuits.
Eurostar, which has had a monopoly from the outset in 1994, is currently embroiled in controversy over its decision not to restart services to Ebbsfleet and Ashford International stations, because of what it claims is a lack of demand.
Related words: broil
imbroglio
Derived words: disembroil
embroiled
embroiler
embroiling
embroilment
re-embroil
unembroiled
Translations: