ensnare

English

Alternative forms

• insnare

Etymology

From en- +‎ snare.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛnˈsnɛə/, /ɪn-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛnˈsnɛ(ə)ɹ/, /ɪn-/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: en‧snare

Verb

ensnare (third-person singular simple present ensnares, present participle ensnaring, simple past and past participle ensnared)

1. To entrap; to catch in a snare or trap.
   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 160, lines 1289–1292:

     Let theſe / Inſnare the vvretched in the toils of lavv, / Fomenting diſcord, and perplexing right, / An iron race!

   • 1887, Æsop, translated by George Fyler Townsend, Three Hundred Æsop's Fables‎^[1]:

     The Geese and the Cranes fed in the same meadow. A birdcatcher came to ensnare them in his nets.

   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown and 250d-e, Sophist:

     When we were asked to what one should apply the name “what is not”, we were ensnared in total paradox. Remember?

2. To entangle; to enmesh.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[2]:

     But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

Related terms

• snare

Translations

to snare, to catch through a snare or trap

• Bulgarian: впримчвам (bg) (vprimčvam)
• Czech: chytit do pasti
• Dutch: vangen (nl), strikken (nl)
• French: piéger (fr)
• German: fangen (de), einfangen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: παγιδεύω (pagideúō)

• Hungarian: tőrbe csal
• Italian: intrappolare (it)
• Latin: illaqueō
• Maori: reti, tāhere, pōtari, āhere, rore, tāwhiti, toromāhanga, raraka, tārore, tari
• Middle English: snaren
• Portuguese: engodar – v.
• Romanian: ademeni (ro), a prinde în capcană
• Russian: поймать (ru) (pojmatʹ) (в ловушку (ru) (lovušku))
• Scottish Gaelic: rib (gd)
• Spanish: atrapar (es)
• Swedish: snärja (sv)

to entangle

• Dutch: verwikkelen (nl), verstrikken (nl)
• French: empêtrer (fr)
• German: verwickeln (de) (reflexive), verheddern (de) (reflexive), verstricken (de) (reflexive)
• Latin: illaqueō
• Maori: raraka, tā, porowhiwhiwhiwhi, porowhīwhiwhi, hīrau, takawhiwhi, tākeke, ārau, tāweka
• Portuguese: emaranhar – v.; enredar
• Russian: запутать (ru) (zaputatʹ)
• Spanish: enmarañar (es), enredar (es)
• Swedish: snärja (sv)

Anagrams

• rennase