inextricable

English

Etymology

From Middle French inextricable, from Latin inextricabilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnɪkˈstrɪkəbəl/, /ˌɪnɛkˈstrɪkəbəl/, /ɪnˈɛkstrɪkəbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkəbəl

Adjective

inextricable (not comparable)

1. (of a knot etc) Impossible to untie or disentangle.
   • 2020, Joel Swanson, “Are anti-Semitism fears stopping Jewish Dems from supporting Bernie Sanders?”, in The Forward:

     And when it comes to far-right anti-Semitism, hatred of Jews is inextricable from opposition to socialism.

2. (of a problem) Impossible to solve.
3. (of a maze etc) Impossible from which to escape.

   Antonym: extricable

Derived terms

• inextricableness
• inextricably

Translations

impossible to untie or disentangle

• Bulgarian: заплетен (bg) (zapleten), неразвръзваем (nerazvrǎzvaem)
• Catalan: inextricable
• French: inextricable (fr)
• German: unentwirrbar (de), unablösbar
• Italian: inestricabile (it)
• Latin: inextricabilis
• Russian: не распутывающийся (ne rasputyvajuščijsja), безнадёжно запутанный (beznadjóžno zaputannyj)
• Spanish: inextricable (es)

impossible to solve

• Bulgarian: неразрешим (bg) (nerazrešim)
• German: unlösbar (de)
• Russian: неразрешимый (ru) (nerazrešimyj)
• Swedish: olöslig (sv)

impossible to escape from

• Bulgarian: безизходен (bg) (bezizhoden)
• French: inextricable (fr)
• German: unentrinnbar (de)
• Russian: безвыходный (ru) (bezvyxodnyj)
• Swedish: omöjlig att komma ur

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin inextrīcābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.nɛk.stʁi.kabl/

Adjective

inextricable (plural inextricables)

1. inextricable, impossible to disentangle

   Near-synonym: insoluble

Derived terms

• inextricablement

Further reading

• “inextricable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ineɡstɾiˈkable/ [i.neɣ̞s.t̪ɾiˈka.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: i‧nex‧tri‧ca‧ble

Adjective

inextricable m or f (masculine and feminine plural inextricables)

1. inextricable

Derived terms

• inextricablemente

Further reading

• “inextricable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025