imbroglio

Advancedzipf 1.94

Pronunciation

/ɪmˈbroʊlioʊ/(im-BROHL-yoh)

Part of speech

nounformal

Chinese

纠纷；混乱局面；错综复杂的困境

Definition

An extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation, especially a political or interpersonal one.

Word family

  • (no common English derivatives)

Collocations

  • political imbroglio
  • diplomatic imbroglio
  • legal imbroglio
  • international imbroglio

Examples

  1. 1.The leaked emails created an imbroglio that paralyzed the administration for weeks. (embarrassing mess)
  2. 2.What began as a simple contract dispute escalated into a full diplomatic imbroglio involving three nations. (complicated entanglement)

Synonyms

  • quagmire/ˈkwæɡmaɪər/— difficult situation, hard to escape
  • debacle/dɪˈbɑːkəl/— sudden disaster or fiasco
  • fiasco/fiˈæskoʊ/— complete failure

Etymology

from Italian "imbrogliare" (to confuse, entangle) — from "brogliare" (to embroil) — an entangled mess