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
Mike Stunson
july 7, Kansas City Star, 7 July 2025
But even if Iran’s leaders are willing to give up many of their demands to extricate themselves from war with the United States, Trump’s heavy use of threats will fail to bring them back to the negotiating table.
—Jennifer Kavanagh, Foreign Affairs, 25 June 2025
One person had to be extricated from a vehicle that rolled over and went down an embankment during a crash in Easton on Sunday that landed two people in the hospital.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 9 June 2025
The driver and the man riding in the backseat both suffered life-threatening injuries and had to be extricated from the car by emergency personnel, Andaluz said.
—Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 June 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 12 Jul. 2025.
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extricate
verb
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