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Intricate vs Labyrinthine - What's the difference?

intricate | labyrinthine |

As adjectives the difference between intricate and labyrinthine

is that intricate is having a great deal of fine detail or complexity while labyrinthine is physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.

As a verb intricate

is to become enmeshed or entangled.

intricate

English

Alternative forms

* entricate

Etymology 1

From (etyl) intricatus'' (past participle of ''intricare ).

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having a great deal of fine detail or complexity.
  • :
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:His style was fit to convey the most intricate business to the understanding with the utmost clearness.
  • *
  • *:As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “near-aissance.”
  • Etymology 2

    As the adjective; or by analogy with extricate

    Verb

    (intricat)
  • To become enmeshed or entangled.
  • * 1864 October 18, J.E. Freund, “ How to Avoid the Use of Lint”, letter to the editor, in The New York Times (1864 October 23):
  • washes off easily, without sticking or intricating into the wound.
  • To enmesh or entangle: to cause to intricate.
  • * 1994 December 12, , “ Avoid Dunkirk II” (essay), in The New York Times :
  • But the British and French won't hear of that; they want to get their troops extricated and our ground troops intricated .

    Anagrams

    * ----

    labyrinthine

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
  • * 1996 , Steen L. Jensen, H. Gregerson. M. H. Shokouh-Amin, F. G. Moody, (eds.), Essentials of Experimental Surgery: Gastroenterology , page 27/4
  • In the pyloric canal, muscular ridges are more fixed than elsewhere and produce quite a labyrinthine surface.
  • * 2011 , Lincoln Child, Deep Storm , page 185
  • Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.
  • Twisting, convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.
  • *
  • * 2000 , Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation , page 51
  • Any attempt to answer that question would carry us into the labyrinthine corridors of Jefferson's famously elusive mind.
  • * 2005 , Michael W. Riley, "Plato's Cratylus: Argument, form, and structure", page 103
  • By coupling "essence" with "name" within a series of contraposed pairs of names, Socrates indicates the point to which he thinks his labyrinthine argument has led so far in the Cratylus .

    Synonyms

    * (resembling a labyrinth) labyrinthal, labyrinthial, labyrinthian, labyrinthic, labyrinthical, labyrinthiform * baffling, confusing, convoluted