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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
imbroglio
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ People have come out into the street from both sides to watch the imbroglio.
▪ The imbroglio brought out the Sicilian in me.
▪ The budget imbroglio also is creating a mounting statistics gap.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Imbroglio

Imbroglio \Im*brogl"io\, n.; pl. Imbroglios. [Written also embroglio.] [It. See 1st Broil, and cf. Embroil.]

  1. An intricate, complicated plot, as of a drama or work of fiction.

  2. A complicated and embarrassing state of things; a serious misunderstanding or disagreement, especially one that is bitter.

    Wrestling to free itself from the baleful imbroglio.
    --Carlyle.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
imbroglio

1750, from Italian imbroglio, from imbrogliare "confuse, tangle," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + brogliare "embroil," probably from Middle French brouiller "confuse" (see broil (v.2); also see embroil).

Wiktionary
imbroglio

n. a complicated situation; an entanglement

WordNet
imbroglio
  1. n. an intricate and confusing interpersonal or political situation [syn: embroilment]

  2. a very embarrassing misunderstanding

Usage examples of "imbroglio".

They loved his anecdotes about growing up in south Boston, life in a strict Catholic household, his amusing imbroglios with the Paulist fathers at St.

The Earl of Emsworth had been sleeping a sound and peaceful sleep when the imbroglio began downstairs.

Besides, the presence of an agent of the Exarchy so close to the heart of this imbroglio was suggestive and might be put to some use.

At one moment she longed passionately for Jasper, the next she would dread his coming, for she knew well enough that he, with his straight matter-of-fact mode of thinking, would inevitably give Naniescu his due, insist that the general was within his rights, and advise his wife to keep clear of these imbroglios, which were so contrary to the lenient, sportsmanlike English attitude toward a beaten enemy.

I am recalling my comfortable home, my ordered life, my hitherto stainless reputation, and wondering what I can ever have done to deserve being pitchforked into this shameless imbroglio!

Venn immediately made sure to point out to Miles all the repairs completed and still in progress, in detail, with approximate costs, with a chronicle appended of all the quaddies who had been injured in the imbroglio, including names, ranks, prognoses, and the distress suffered by their family members.