extricate

IPA/ˈekstrɪkeɪt/
KK[ˈɛkstrəkˌet]IPA/ˈekstrɪkeɪt/

extricate — verb

  • extricatepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • extricateshe / she / it
  • extricatedpast simple
  • extricating-ing form

1. to get a person, animal, or object loose when it is caught, trapped, or held tig

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to get a person, animal, or object loose when it is caught, trapped, or held tight, or to pull yourself or someone else out of a tough situation that is hard to leave — like a foot stuck in mud, or a friendship that has turned bad.

Example

Firefighters worked for two hours to extricate Sade from the wrecked car.

extricate + object + from + location after an accident

Talia tried to extricate herself from the boring conversation by checking her phone.

reflexive: extricate oneself from a social situation

Common collocations
  • extricate from wreckage
  • extricate from rubble
  • extricate oneself from a conversation
  • extricate oneself from a relationship
  • carefully extricate
Synonyms
  • free

    much more common and neutral; everyday equivalent

  • disentangle

    stresses unwinding from something twisted or complicated

  • release

    broader; often used when someone in authority lets a person go

  • rescue

    implies urgent danger and a heroic helper

Antonyms
  • trap

    to put someone into the stuck situation in the first place

  • entangle

    the opposite action — to get someone caught up in something

Grammar Patterns

extricate someone/something from something

extricate oneself from something

Usage Note

Subject is usually a rescuer or the trapped party itself (reflexive). Object is typically something physically stuck (a person, limb, object) OR an entanglement that is hard to leave (debt, lawsuit, relationship, deal). Pairs almost always with 'from'.

Common Mistakes

I want to extricate this problem.
I want to extricate myself from this problem.
you extricate a person/thing FROM something, not the problem itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe getting someone or something out of a difficult position, but they differ in tone and scene. 'Free' is the everyday word and works for almost any situation, from opening a cage door to ending a contract. 'Rescue' suggests urgent danger and a heroic helper — firefighters rescue people from burning buildings. 'Extricate' is more formal and emphasises the effort or skill needed to pull someone or something loose, often piece by piece; news reports use it for car-crash victims and companies pulling out of bad deals. 'Disentangle' focuses on unwinding something physically or mentally twisted — wires, a complicated story, or mixed feelings. So a firefighter rescues a driver, then carefully extricates her from the wreck; later, lawyers disentangle the insurance claim.

extricate ↗free ↗disentangle ↗rescue ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • extricate oneself from
  • difficult to extricate

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1600s from Latin 'extricatus', the past participle of 'extricare', meaning 'to unravel' or 'to disentangle'. The Latin verb is built from 'ex-' (out) plus 'tricae', a noun meaning 'tangles, perplexities, or hindrances'. So the word literally pictures pulling something out of a knot — which still matches the modern meaning of carefully freeing someone or something from a tight spot.