Definitions

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

  • noun The condition or quality of being intricate; complexity.
  • noun Something intricate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; maze.

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

  • noun The state or quality of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; complexity; that which is intricate or involved

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

  • noun The state or quality of being intricate or entangled;
  • noun Perplexity; involution; complication; complexity;
  • noun That which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot.

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

  • noun marked by elaborately complex detail

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Again and again another layer of intricacy is revealed, proving that something as small as a story can be as satisfying and moving as a Russian novel.

    Once the Shore by Paul Yoon: Book summary 2010

  • But besides the complicated character of the general subject, as it presents itself to the minds of children -- that is, the intricacy to them of the question when there must be a strict correspondence between the words spoken and an actual reality, and when they may rightly represent mere images or fancies of the mind -- there is another great difficulty in their way, one that is very little considered and often, indeed, not at all understood by parents -- and that is, that in the earliest years the distinction between realities and mere fancies of the mind is very indistinctly drawn.

    Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young Or, the Principles on Which a Firm Parental Authority May Be Established and Maintained, Without Violence or Anger, and the Right Development of the Moral and Mental Capacities Be Promoted by Methods in Harmony with the Structure and the Characteristics of the Juvenile Mind Jacob Abbott 1841

  • One of the leading reasons for the slow pace is the "intricacy" of the procedure and the fact that it involves quite a number of roleplayers who each have to perform in order for the process to move forward, the report says.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • He wants the reader to involve him/herself in the "intricacy" of design, to find in the tracing out of the incremental, spiralling pattern a source of interest at least as compelling as character identification, if not more so, since Powers's novels make it clear that the writer's job is not merely to tell stories and evoke characters, but to use such things as story and character to make something fresh from the form, to find the means to unite story, character, and theme with form in a way that is mutually reinforcing: character is tied to the evolving revelations of form, formal ingenuity itself embodies and discloses theme.

    Elsewhere 2005

  • He wants the reader to involve him/herself in the "intricacy" of design, to find in the tracing out of the incremental, spiralling pattern a source of interest at least as compelling as character identification, if not more so, since Powers's novels make it clear that the writer's job is not merely to tell stories and evoke characters, but to use such things as story and character to make something fresh from the form, to find the means to unite story, character, and theme with form in a way that is mutually reinforcing: character is tied to the evolving revelations of form, formal ingenuity itself embodies and discloses theme.

    Archive 2005-11-01 2005

  • Simply put, the screenplay represents a brilliant blend of simplicity and intricacy, in a moving portrait of life, love, family and tragedy, as it touches us all.

    Twilight Lexicon » Lexicon Review: Remember Me, the Non-New Yorker’s View 2010

  • Encountering the art of Roxy Paine, we always expect to be dazzled by the technical intricacy and detail of the work, while being seduced by it's beauty to closely approach despite a hint of menace.

    Mark Wiener and Linda DiGusta: Magic Mushrooms and a Tree of Steel -- Roxy Paine @ James Cohan Gallery Mark Wiener 2010

  • Encountering the art of Roxy Paine, we always expect to be dazzled by the technical intricacy and detail of the work, while being seduced by it's beauty to closely approach despite a hint of menace.

    Mark Wiener and Linda DiGusta: Magic Mushrooms and a Tree of Steel -- Roxy Paine @ James Cohan Gallery Mark Wiener 2010

  • We like the intricacy and the vastness of the world in which we live.

    The Kempton-Wace Letters 2010

  • This is music once generally conducted at a far easier tempo, but such intricacy is very much par for the course for today's post/math-rock band, as they explore every possible path out of the post-hardcore rut.

    This week's new live music 2011

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