Wiktionary

ensnare

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From en- +‎ snare.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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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?
    • 2022 August 24, Peter Bradshaw, “Mr Malcolm’s List review – Regency romcom served with cake-icing of irony”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      When he spurns her, Julia is outraged to hear it is because she did not measure up to his secret list of 10 bullet-pointed attributes for an ideal bride. To get her own back, she invites her best friend, penniless clergyman’s daughter Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto), up to town to ensnare Malcolm, by faking the 10 comely attributes from his list.
  2. To entangle; to enmesh.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎[3]:
      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.
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