Skip to content

ensnarl

/ɛnˈsnɑː(ɹ)l/

verb

To entangle; to trap.

Similar

ensnare entangle snarl enmesh foul implicate imply involve

OriginEnglish snarl ← Middle English en- ← Old French en- →

Scrabble 7

Ask AI about this wordChatGPT Claude Perplexity Google AI Grok

Meanings

verbensnarl (third-person singular simple present ensnarls, present participle ensnarling, simple past and past participle ensnarled)

present singular third person ensnarls · participle present ensnarling · participle past ensnarled · past ensnarled

To entangle; to trap.
They in awayt would closely him ensnarle, / Ere to his den he backward could recoyle, / And so would hope him easily to foyle.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Synonyms: ensnare, entangle, snarl, enmesh, ensnare, entangle, foul, implicate

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo entangle; to trap.

Similar

ensnare entangle snarl enmesh ensnare entangle foul implicate imply involve mat ravel snarl tangle

More synonyms by meaning

verbentangle or catch in (or as if in) a mesh

Similar

Broader

entangle tangle mat

Also see

befoul enmesh ensnare entangle foul implicate imply involve mesh ravel snarl tangle untangle

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
Proto-Italic*en
Proto-Italic*en-
Latinin-
Old Frenchen-
Middle Englishen-
Englishen-
Englishsnarl
Englishensnarl

From en- + snarl.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ensnarl

carl karl marl snarl jarl harl asnarl gnarl yarl

Cite this entry

APA

ensnarl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensnarl

MLA

“ensnarl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensnarl. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ensnarl,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensnarl.

Source: ensnarl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.