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. 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.
In"tri*cate (?), v. t. To
entangle; to involve; to make perplexing. [Obs.]
It makes men troublesome, and intricates all
wise discourses.
Jer. Taylor.
