extricate
verbUK /ˈɛk.stɹɪ.keɪt/ · CA, US, UK /ˈɛk.stɹɪˌkeɪt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin extrīcātus, past participle of extrīcō. Compare intricate.
1
To free, disengage, loosen, or untangle.
- I finally managed to extricate myself from the tight jacket.
- The firefighters had to use the jaws of life to extricate Monica from the car wreck.
2
Rare To free from intricacies or perplexity.
- Your argumentation ... is invelloped with certain intricacies, that are not easie to be extricated.1662: Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue Two)
- Derived terms
- unextricated
- Related terms
- extricable, extrication, inextricable, intricate, intrigue