Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To involve in argument, contention, or hostile actions.
  • transitive verb To throw into confusion or disorder; entangle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To broil; burn.
  • noun Perplexity; confusion; embarrassment.
  • To mix up or entangle; intermix confusedly; involve.
  • To involve in contention or trouble by discord; disturb; distract.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To throw into confusion or commotion by contention or discord; to entangle in a broil or quarrel; to make confused; to distract; to involve in difficulties by dissension or strife.
  • transitive verb To implicate in confusion; to complicate; to jumble.
  • noun See embroilment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To draw into a situation; to cause to be involved.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French embrouiller : en-, intensive pref.; see en– + brouiller, to confuse (from Old French; see broil).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Cognate with French embrouiller

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Examples

  • For him to do as the Republicans want, he would again embroil our country in a fight that is not ours.

    Slight majority approves of Obama's handling of Iran 2009

  • The only way to really guarantee of giving the United States a bloody nose would be to kind of embroil it in a larger, regional war.

    CNN Transcript Jun 15, 2006 2006

  • Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told AP he will not let the abortion issue "embroil" the healthcare reform debate.

    Newsmax - Inside Cover 2009

  • Early in the 17th century, English speakers began using "embroil," a direct adaptation of

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day 2009

  • Early in the 17th century, English speakers began using "embroil," a direct adaptation of

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day 2009

  • The false claims advanced by the Bush administration that Saddam was building up a serious WMD program and that his regime had given training in “poisons and deadly gases” to al-Qaeda associates in Iraq were the apogee of this hysteria, as they helped to embroil the United States in the disastrous Iraq War.

    The Longest War Peter L. Bergen 2011

  • The false claims advanced by the Bush administration that Saddam was building up a serious WMD program and that his regime had given training in “poisons and deadly gases” to al-Qaeda associates in Iraq were the apogee of this hysteria, as they helped to embroil the United States in the disastrous Iraq War.

    The Longest War Peter L. Bergen 2011

  • Critics of a no-fly zone say it is an act of war, and could embroil the United States in another conflict in the Arab world on the side of forces whose ultimate intentions are not yet clear.

    Two US Senators Urge Intervention in Libya 2011

  • Em - is a common prefix, found in words such as embark, embed, embody, emboss, embrace, and embroil.

    May « 2009 « Sentence first 2009

  • Em - is a common prefix, found in words such as embark, embed, embody, emboss, embrace, and embroil.

    Read ‘em and write ‘em 2009

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