Imbroglio Meaning and Usage

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Meaning:

- a difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement.
- a confused or complicated disagreement.
- a confused heap; a tangle.
- an intricately woven plot or set of circumstances; an embroilment.
- a very embarrassing misunderstanding

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Synonyms:

altercation, argument, bickering, brawl, broil, complexity, complication, dispute, embarrassment, embroilment, entanglement, flack, involvement, miff, misinterpretation, mistaking, misunderstanding, quandary, quarrel, row, run-in, spat, squabble.


Antonyms:

agreement, peacemaking

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Use Imbroglio in a sentence:

1. The small town was caught up in an imbroglio over missing funds.

2. There seems to be no solution to the imbroglio in the region; both sides are adamant on their stands.

3. "Verna's room was a symphony of disarray that reached a crescendo in an imbroglio of dirty clothes at the end of her bed."

4. Both Nixon's and Clinton's presidencies were marred by imbroglios: Nixon's was in campaign financing and Clinton's involved a Whitehouse intern.

5. Dan had no idea how he ended up in this imbroglio but knew it would take a great deal of explaining to get out of it.

6. In Shakespeare’s comedies, there is often an imbroglio caused by a case of mistaken identity.

7. The Earl had been sleeping a sound and peaceful sleep when the imbroglio began downstairs.

8. A huge imbroglio — involving the mayor, the sanitation department, the owner of a bar, and the congregation of a church — started over the placement of a curbside garbage can.

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Did you know?

"Imbroglio" and "embroilment" are more than just synonyms; they're also linked through etymology. Both descend from the Middle French verb "embrouiller" (same meaning as "embroil"), from the prefix "em-," meaning "thoroughly," plus "brouiller," meaning "to mix" or "to confuse."

This word means not only a story that is tricky to follow, but also one with covert motivations, secrets and manipulation.

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