different between imbroglio vs embroil

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (“prefix forming verbs denoting derivation”) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“to embroil, muddle”) (em- (“em-”), a form of en- (“en-, prefix meaning ‘caused’”) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?b???lj??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?b?o?ljo?/
• Rhymes: -??lj??
• Hyphenation: im?bro?glio

Noun

imbroglio (plural imbroglios or imbrogli)

1. A complicated situation; an entanglement.
   • 2013, Frances Whiting, chapter 19, in Walking on Trampolines, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, ?ISBN; trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, February 2015, ?ISBN page 207:

     I could have phoned you with all this, Tallulah, but knowing you as I have over the years, when you and I have both been a party to some of Duncan's little imbroglios, I thought I should talk to you in person.

Synonyms

• snarl (noun)

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From Italian imbroglio (“tangle”), from imbrogliare (“to tangle”), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“muddle, embroil”), from em- (“en-”) + brouiller. Doublet of embrouille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.b??.ljo/

Noun

imbroglio m (plural imbroglios)

1. a complicated situation; an entanglement

Further reading

• “imbroglio” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From imbrogliare (“to tangle”), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“muddle, embroil”), from em- (“en-”) + brouiller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /im?br??.?o/
• Hyphenation: im?bro?glio

Noun

imbroglio m (plural imbrogli)

1. tangle, entanglement, muddle, scrape

   Synonyms: impiccio, intrico, pasticcio

2. cheat, swindle, trick, diddle, fraud

   Synonyms: frode, inganno, truffa

Related terms

Verb

imbroglio

1. first-person singular present indicative of imbrogliare

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French embrouiller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?b???l/
• Rhymes: -???l, -??l

Verb

embroil (third-person singular simple present embroils, present participle embroiling, simple past and past participle embroiled)

1. To draw into a situation; to cause to be involved.
   • 2016 January 31, "Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?," Vanity Fair (retrieved 21 January 2016):

     Whether it’s palatable for the vice-chairman of Hillary’s presidential campaign to be embroiled in allegations of conflicts of interest, obtaining patronage jobs, or misrepresenting time worked remains to be seen.

   • the royal house embroil'd in civil war

2. To implicate in confusion; to complicate; to jumble.

   • The Christian antiquities at Rome […] are so embroiled with fable and legend.

Related terms

Translations