entanglement

Noun

entanglement (countable and uncountable, plural entanglements)

1. The act of entangling.
   • The most notorious of these was his entanglement of the Soviet Union in the Cuban missile crisis, against the advice of the military, who held him responsible for their embarrassing inability to frighten the USA because he had failed[…]2002, David Robertson, David Professor Robertson, A Dictionary of Modern Politics, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 266
2. The condition of being deeply involved and intricated (with politics, a group, another person, etc.)
   • The Letters' account of Dolghurucki's hopeless entanglement in the politics of the imperial accession resonated with her readers, and Vigor's story becomes a minor set piece of Russian histories in the eighteenth century.2018 June 30, Katrina O'Loughlin, Women, Writing, and Travel in the Eighteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 110
3. The condition, or an instance, of being romantically or sexually involved with another person; an affair.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:entanglement.
4. An obstruction placed in front or on the flank of a fortification, to impede an enemy's approach.
5. An obstruction of cables and spars across a river or harbour entrance.