extricate
verb
Did you know?
Oh what a tangled web the English language weaves. Extricate, for example, may remind you of extract, another word applied when something is removed, but we can tease them apart. Although extricate and extract resemble each other, to extract something is to remove it using methods that often involve physical force, as in “the dentist had to extract my tooth.” Extricate, on the other hand, is more often used for the act of freeing someone or something from a difficult or tangled situation, which can, but need not, involve literal yanking or pulling. Extricating yourself from an awkward conversation, after all, can be as simple as announcing “I need to take this call!” and shuffling off with phone to ear. Extricate comes from the Latin verb extricare, which combines the prefix ex- (“out of”) with the noun tricae, meaning “trifles or perplexities.”
Examples of extricate in a Sentence
Nana Ama Sarfo, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
Firefighters had to extricate the man, who was not wearing a seatbelt, authorities said.
—Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2025
There has to be something remarkable, besides her jam-making skills, about a woman with the strength of will to extricate herself, her children, and a husband who’d spent his whole life within the institution from the notoriously controlling British royal family.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Firefighters had to extricate two people from the BMW.
—David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for extricate
Cite this Entry
“Extricate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extricate. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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extricate
verb
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