Word.ws English Dictionary

imbroglio

Syllables: im·bro·glioUK/ɪmˈbɹəʊljəʊ//ɪmˈbɹoʊljoʊ/

imbroglio noun: a complicated situation; an entanglement.

Noun

imbroglio (plural imbroglios or imbrogli)

  1. A complicated situation; an entanglement.
    • Into the drawers and china pry, / Papers and books, a huge imbroglio! / Under a tea-cup he might lie, / Or creased, like dogs-ears, in a folio.1816, Thomas Gray, “A Long Story”, in John Mitford, editor, The Works of Thomas Gray; Vol. I Containing the Poems, with Critical Notes; a Life of the Author; and an Essay on His Poetry; by the Rev....
    • Your trip here will never quite go as planned. […] There may be strikes, mixed-up reservations, maddening imbrogli of all sorts. But they will be charming imbrogli because the Italian people are charming, down to the whimsical tone of their language.2010 July, Erica Jong, “My Italy”, in Barrie Kerper, editor, Tuscany and Umbria: The Collected Traveler (An Inspired Companion Guide), New York, N.Y.: Vintage Departures, Vintage Books, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    snarl

imbroglio meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

imbroglio in Tamil

குழப்பநிலை, குழப்பம்

imbroglio in Urdu

گڑبڑ, جھمیلا, الجھاؤ, الجھن

imbroglio in Malayalam

problem, complicated situation, complication
കുഴഞ്ഞസ്ഥിതിവിശേഷം, കുടുക്ക്, ഊരാക്കുടുക്ക്, സങ്കീർണ്ണത, സങ്കീർണ്ണപ്രശ്നം, സങ്കീർണ്ണാവസ്ഥ
jumble, muddle, mess
കുഴഞ്ഞകൂമ്പാരം, വ്യാമിശ്രത, സങ്കീർണ്ണത, കശപിശ, കശുപിശ, കൂടിക്കുഴയൽ

imbroglio in Kannada

ತೊಡಕು, ಬಿಕ್ಕಟ್ಟು

Synonyms of imbroglio

Forms of imbroglio

pluralimbroglios
pluralimbrogli

Origin of imbroglio

Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (prefix forming verbs denoting derivation) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“to embroil, muddle”) (em- (“em-”), a form of en- (“en-”, prefix meaning ‘caused’) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”)). Doublet of embroil.

Words that rhyme with imbroglio

Questions about imbroglio

What does imbroglio mean?
Imbroglio means a complicated situation; an entanglement.
What is imbroglio in Tamil?
Imbroglio in Tamil is குழப்பநிலை, குழப்பம். See Imbroglio meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is imbroglio?
Imbroglio is a noun.
How do you pronounce imbroglio?
Imbroglio is pronounced /ɪmˈbɹəʊljəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of imbroglio?
The plural of imbroglio is imbroglios.

Words near imbroglio in the dictionary

  1. imbrocatas
  2. imbroccata
  3. imbroccatas
  4. imbrogli
  5. imbroglii
  6. imbroglio
  7. imbroglios
  8. Imbrogno
  9. Imbrognos
  10. Imbros
  11. imbrown

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: imbroglio (page history and authors); imbroglio (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); imbroglio (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); imbroglio (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); imbroglio (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-imbroglio.ogg.

Cite this entry: “imbroglio.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/imbroglio. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.