embroiled
embroiled is the simple past and past participle of embroil.
Meaning of embroil
Verb (1)
embroil (third-person singular simple present embroils, present participle embroiling, simple past and past participle embroiled)
- To bring (something) into a state of confusion or uproar; to complicate, to confuse, to jumble.
- Rumor next and Chance, / And Tumult and Confuſion all imbroild, / And Diſcord with a thouſand various mouths.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- To cause (someone) to be drawn into or involved in a difficult situation or state of contention.
- Avoid him. He will embroil you in his fights.
Verb (2)
embroil (third-person singular simple present embroils, present participle embroiling, simple past and past participle embroiled)
- To set (something) on fire; to burn (something).
- Indeed if vve vvill be building our Babels, and thus aſſault Omnipotence, 'tis but juſt vve ſhould have our language confounded, and that that knovvledge for vvhich vve boldly attempt to rifle Gods cabinet, ſhould like the Coal from the Altar, ſerve only to embroil and conſume the ſacrilegious...1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, “A Survey of the Causes of Disputes; Secondly, Curiosity”, in The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […]...
Words formed from embroiled
Questions about embroiled
- What is embroiled the simple past and past participle of?
- Embroiled is the simple past and past participle of embroil.
Words near embroiled in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: embroiled (page history and authors); embroil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-embroiled.ogg.
Cite this entry: “embroiled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/embroiled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
