小词详解 | intricate

英 [ˈɪntrɪkət] 美 [ˈɪntrɪkət]

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外刊例句

• The journey of a pint, roughly the amount in a typical donation, from a donor’s vein to the recipient is intricate and fascinating.
  一次捐献的血量通常是一品脱左右，这些血液从捐献者的静脉转移到接受者体内，经历了复杂而迷人的旅程。
  ——《经济学人》

• A touch of paranoia is not a bad thing to bring to the computer-software business, where shifting alliances, rapid technological changes and intricate co-dependencies make plotting long-term strategies hazardous.
  踏入电脑软件这个行业，带点妄想并不是件坏事，因为在这个行业里，业者间分分合合，科技日新月异，互依的关系错综复杂，制定长期发展策略反倒危险。
  ——《时代周刊》

基本释义

[adjective] very complicated or detailed
[形容词] 非常复杂或精细的

深入解读

Intricate 是一个与 extricate （使脱离、使摆脱）既形似又容易混淆的单词。该词源自拉丁语 intricare （使缠住、使困惑、使尴尬）的过去分词 intricatus （被缠住的），15世纪初进入英语后即用来表示“错综复杂的、盘根错节的、复杂精细的”，多指事物的各部分交织在一起，令人困惑，几乎不可能单独理解或掌握，比如：

• 他们精心策划了一个错综复杂的阴谋来推翻总统。
  They contrived an intricate plot to topple the President.

• 警官们揭开了一整套错综复杂的骗局。她的合伙人都是些骗子，已卷款逃之夭夭了。
  Police officers uncovered an intricate web of deceit. Her partners were crooks and absconded with the funds.

权威用例

……，团结带领全党全军全国各族人民有效应对严峻复杂的国际形势和接踵而至的巨大风险挑战，……
The Central Committee has brought together the entire Party, the military, and the Chinese people and led them in effectively responding to grave, intricate international developments and a series of immense risks and challenges.

出自党的二十大报告。

同近义词

• complex: not easy to analyze or understand; complicated or intricate

• complicated: consisting of many interconnecting parts or elements; intricate

• knotty: (of a problem or matter) extremely difficult or intricate

往期回顾