How to use intricate in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, verb

Intricate means having a great deal of fine detail or complexity. Example: “The architecture of this clock is very intricate.”

Examples of intricate by meaning

adjectiveHaving a great deal of fine detail or complexity.

The architecture of this clock is very intricate.
It is next argued that the discretion must be exercised in a reasonable manner and that the question whether a will was in fact executed or not would seldom be an intricate question and was not so in this case.1911, Great Britain, Privy Council, Judicial Committee, Madras (India: Presidency), High Court of Judicature, The Madras Weekly Notes...
From this point of vantage, we were able to gain an impression of the massive outlines of the main structure, and its intricate maze of girders.1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 149

verbTo enmesh or entangle: to cause to intricate.

But the British and French won't hear of that; they want to get their troops extricated and our ground troops intricated.1994 December 12, William Safire, “Avoid Dunkirk II” (essay), in The New York Times

More sentences with intricate

We've got some paperwork to do before we can get started. The piece was decorated with intricate filigree work.From the entry work
The nomads shave intricate designs into their camels' fur.From the entry into
The dance included an intricate double switch.From the entry double switch
Shrugging, the twins lowered their faces in concentration over the intricate raindrop cake they were decorating.2019, Connie Glynn, The Lost Princess, Penguin UK, →ISBN. From the entry raindrop cake
I even devoted intricate craft project time to some of it.2016 August 5, Phoebe-Jane Boyd, “Does Orlando Bloom’s pixellated penis rectify Hollywood’s double standards?”, in The Guardian. From the entry lechery
Fleece lined, the dark hide exterior was adorned with intricate beading by a truly skilled artisan.2016, Debra Salonen, Black Hills Native Son. From the entry made in China
When a class was boring, he doodled intricate maps of imaginary lands.2015 July 24, Gareth Cook, “The Singular Mind of Terry Tao”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company…. From the entry terry
This complex is composed by several genomotypes connected by an intricate reproductive dynamics.2015 July 17, “Mate Choice Drives Evolutionary Stability in a Hybrid Complex”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry genomotypes
Deacon's second album, Bromst, will be an intricate merry-go-round of joyous, leftfield compositions.2009 February 26, Mikey Cahill, “Rock City”, in Herald Sun. From the entry leftfield
It is their nests that are penduline, intricate hanging baskets of plant down and animal hair.2007 November 24, Simon Barnes, “A Crisp morning, ready salted”, in The Times. From the entry penduline
A more intricate triadic relationship was advanced 15 years ago in a multitherapist project headed by Bieber.1978, John Paul Brady, Harlow Keith Hammond Brodie, Controversy in psychiatry. From the entry multitherapist
It is a fine dance, fast and intricate, with many turnabouts.1975, National Geographic, volume 148, page 380. From the entry turnabout
In company lines intricate fences have sprung up around fantastic gardens.1948, Alon Kadish, quoting Lt. Whidborne, The British Army in Palestine and the 1948 War: Containment, Withdrawal and Evacuation…. From the entry Acacia Avenue
In the intricate formalese that marked relations between friends of the time, Mr.1946 December 6, “Letter Written in 1842 Tells of Life in Stowe”, in The Daily Messenger, number 274, St. Albans, Vt., page 4-A. From the entry formalese
It is cornersome, but goodly; intricate, but interesting, and worth the learning.1904, John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu Montagu (2nd Baron), The Best Ways Out of London. From the entry cornersome
Some of these flowers are the most intricate things, and you would never know if you didn’t look closely.2024 April 3, Brady Nash, quoting Scott Dean, “A North Carolina naturalist’s tips for spotting springtime blooms”, in Atlanta, retrieved…. From the entry wildflowering
Now the University shop ONLY offers ornate codpieces and ruffed shirts with intricate floor plans of the Minster printed on them.2023 February 27, Eddie Atkinson, “New University Merch!”, in The Lemon Press, number 55, University of York, page 6, column 1. From the entry longboi
As such, and especially during his years in Rome, he was exposed to the latest and most intricate in coded messagery.2021, Jordan Ellenberg, Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Absolutely Everything. From the entry messagery
The ways in which consumers purchase goods require large storage spaces, intricate organization, and quick retrieval and processing of items.2021 December 3, Mol Doak, “Voice Picking Solutions Are Modernizing Retail Warehouses”, in BizTech, United States, archived from the…. From the entry voice picking
On day three I pointed at the edge of an intricate pentagram peeking above her shock of oily black hair.2019, Hal Y. Zhang, Hard Mother, Spider Mother, Soft Mother, Brooklyn, NY: Radix Media, →ISBN, page 2. From the entry shock
The origins os the abhisheka lay in Vedic ritual; it was an intricate procedure involving several baths and changes of vestments.2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 145. From the entry abhisheka
The catch: Its intricate, knitlike patterns are stenciled, using a swath of chain mail specially fabricated for the task.2015 July 23, Roberta Smith, “‘Bonsai’ Show at Maccarone Honors Roger Brown”, in New York Times. From the entry knitlike
Honeybees, with their intricate social behaviour and waggle dance, have long been considered smarter than the average bug.2006 May 27, NewScientist, page 8, column 1. From the entry waggle dance
The jaleo is a necessary and intricate component of flamenco.2005, D. E. Pohren, The Art of Flamenco, Bold Strummer Limited, →ISBN, page 126. From the entry jaleo
The most basic hangboard has various-sized edges and slopers, while more intricate hangboards have multiple pockets and pinches.2005, Matt Burbach, Gym Climbing: Maximizing Your Indoor Experience, page 159. From the entry hangboard
In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.…. From the entry ill
That was intricate reporting plus reasoning plus olive-branching and remonstrating.1989, Albert Norman, The Falkland Islands, Their Kinship Isles, the Antarctic Hemisphere, & the Freedom of the 2 Great Oceans, page 218. From the entry olive-branch
These gestures, performed with the nonchalance of a daily chore, appeared and disappeared arrhythmically, weaving an intricate texture.1988 January 29, Justin Hayford, “Discovery in De Kalb”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry arrhythmically
This intricate, so-personal net of the Castle annoyed him, but he saw no way to break out of it.1986 October, Piers Anthony, “Princess” (chapter 3), in Wielding a Red Sword, Del Rey Books, →ISBN, page 40. From the entry dayrobe
My father and I evolved a game of backyard cricket which was a balance of intricate skills and high comedy.1982, Ted Walker, The High Path, page 100. From the entry backyard cricket
The high intricate ways of the Keep had a strange power of suasion, an ability to carry conviction.1977, Stephen R. Donaldson, The Illearth War, page 75. From the entry suasion
Intricate estate planning has assured the continuity of the McCurdy family fortunes, based in California banking, aeronautics and oenoculture.1976 July 4, Martin Levin, “New Novel”, in The New York Times, page BR5. From the entry oenoculture
Later still, her images became highly stylized, intricate, with obsessed, repetitive motifs, labyrinthine, until they resembled Louis Wain's crystalline cats.1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings. From the entry amphetaminism
Here you learn how to use toothpaste as glue, fashion a shiv out of a spoon and build intricate communication networks.1971, Abbie Hoffman, “Introduction”, in Steal This Book, Pirate Editions / Grove Press. From the entry shiv
Pencil-Thin Treillage must be made of a metal that flows evenly and fully into every part of intricate molds.1962 November 15, “Which would You Design as Malleable Castings? [advertisement]”, in Mervin Roberts, editor, The Michigan Technic, volume…. From the entry pencil-thin
It rose in tiers, a maze of intricate wiring inset with black crystal, and surrounded by ladderways and balconies.1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 84. From the entry ladderway

Meaning of intricate

adjective Having a great deal of fine detail or complexity.
adjective Difficult to disentangle, puzzle apart, or resolve; enigmatic, obscure.
verb To become enmeshed or entangled.

Full definition of intricate

Questions about intricate in a sentence

How do you use intricate in a sentence?: Intricate is used as an adjective and verb. For example: “The architecture of this clock is very intricate.”
What is a short sentence with intricate?: “The dance included an intricate double switch.”
What does intricate mean?: Intricate means having a great deal of fine detail or complexity.

Adapted from Wiktionary: intricate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use intricate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/intricate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.