Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective intricate differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of intricate are complex, complicated, involved, and knotty. While all these words mean "having confusingly interrelated parts," intricate suggests such interlacing of parts as to make it nearly impossible to follow or grasp them separately.

an intricate web of deceit

When could complex be used to replace intricate?

In some situations, the words complex and intricate are roughly equivalent. However, complex suggests the unavoidable result of a necessary combining and does not imply a fault or failure.

a complex recipe

When is complicated a more appropriate choice than intricate?

The words complicated and intricate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, complicated applies to what offers great difficulty in understanding, solving, or explaining.

complicated legal procedures

Where would involved be a reasonable alternative to intricate?

The words involved and intricate can be used in similar contexts, but involved implies extreme complication and often disorder.

a rambling, involved explanation

When might knotty be a better fit than intricate?

The synonyms knotty and intricate are sometimes interchangeable, but knotty suggests complication and entanglement that make solution or understanding improbable.

knotty ethical questions

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of intricate Next to it, musicians play house music on an intricate tile stage. Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 12 Sep. 2025 The insect uses the red flag-looking appendages on its hind legs to perform an intricate and mysterious display. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 11 Sep. 2025 Over several days, these Tibetan monks will make an intricate sand painting. Virginia Brown, Charlotte Observer, 11 Sep. 2025 From intricate background details to the propulsive fight choreography, everything is just seamless, vividly rendered to perfection. David Opie, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for intricate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intricate
Adjective
  • This narrative has taken center stage over a far more complicated and interesting reality.
    Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
  • With the success of TV shows like Hacks and The White Lotus, which explore the beautifully complicated, often messy inner lives of women who don’t fit the ingenue mold, perhaps more production companies will take chances on similar shows.
    Sam Reed, Glamour, 12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Users can search for specific properties of geologic units or click on the map for additional geologic information and links to more detailed maps of local areas.
    David Bressan, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
  • While history is ever present throughout, the Freedom Tower’s installations are created to appeal to 21st century visitors, many through interactive exhibitions, digital content and detailed re-creations.
    Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • This scalable method opens the door for more complex structures that were once out of reach.
    Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Dyslexia like any other complex entity has a continuum from mild to severe manifestations.
    Laura Cassidy, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The statement-making backless dress was embellished with elaborate beadwork and a decorative clasp at her upper back, while also revealing her backside.
    Charles Trepany, USA Today, 13 Sep. 2025
  • Coon also joked that with so much time adapting the elaborate costumes, her daughter, born in the summer of 2021, thought that her mom's on-set dresser, Brian, was her father.
    Avalon Hester, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The shift would send states scrambling and complicate parents’ efforts to get young children vaccinated ahead of the coming respiratory virus season.
    Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The district has tried to be conservative on replacing items as efforts to form a fire territory complicate issues of investment and ownership.
    Shelley Jones, Chicago Tribune, 8 July 2025
Adjective
  • Rows and rows of spacious houses with yards, everything new, tidy as can be imagined, with elegant transportation to and from the workplace right there—all for working people.
    Brian Domitrovic, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
  • Posing next to Colman Domingo and Salma Hayek Pinault (who wore an elegant black Balenciaga suit dress), Moore’s glitzy look shone.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Boiled down in a cauldron using traditional methods, the sulfate-free formula bubbles up into a lovely lather that washes hands without stripping them (the glycerin, as well as coconut, olive, and sweet almond oils, are to thank) and fills the room with its sophisticated, Provençal scents.
    Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Smart stability through clever control The key to this drone’s ability to stabilize is a sophisticated feedback controller.
    Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 15 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Intricate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intricate. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.

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