intricacyn.
/ˈɪntrɪkəsi/ 1. The quality or state of being intricate; complexity; complicated or involved condition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or complexity
intrication?a1475
intricatenessa1586
intricacy1602
engagement1642
anfractuosity1645
complicateness1656
intrigue1656
implicateness1685
complexedness1690
complexness1727
complexity1790
complicacy18..
subtlety1815
complicatedness1818
complicity1847
Byzantinism1945
1602 W. Warner Epitome Hist. Eng. in Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) 366 Our..Method wherein we now execute lawes & dispatch, with lesser intricacie, the Collections and businesses for the Wealepublike.
1619 Sir R. Naunton in S. R. Gardiner Fortescue Papers (1871) 107 It is a buisines of much intricasie.
1697 J. Addison Ess. Georgics in J. Dryden tr. Virgil Wks. sig. ¶4 It often puzzles the Reader with the Intricacy of its Notions.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 39. ¶3 The Modern Tragedy excells that of Greece and Rome, in the Intricacy and Disposition of the Fable.
1753 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty v. 28 The beauty of a composed intricacy of form.
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. 247 The mathematical theory of the propagation of sound..is one of the utmost intricacy.
1866 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices I. xx. 512 The lock must have varied in value, according to its size and to the intricacy of its workmanship.
2. quasi-concrete. An instance of this condition; a complication; an entangled or involved state of affairs; a perplexing difficulty.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or complexity > instance of
labyrinthc1450
node1572
meander1576
meanderc1595
intricacy1611
complication1647
intrigo1648
intrigue1660
intricate1664
intricoa1670
complexity1794
sinuosity1827
complicacy1849
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > complication or complexity > [noun] > a complicated state of affairs
labyrinthc1450
proplexity1487
maze1531
perplexity1563
intricacy1611
intrigo1648
intrigue1660
intricoa1670
wheels within wheels1679
imbroglio1818
involvement1821
scrimmage1852
situation1954
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Intrique, an intricacie, Laborinth, Maze,..difficultie.
1628 R. Le Grys tr. J. Barclay Argenis iii. 255 Cut off these intricacies: set downe a time, beyond which no controuersie shall depend in Court.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Norw. 274 Because the Sun doth not so much dry the Intricacies of such flowers which are Duplicated.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 606 Twelve palaces, and 1000 houses, the intricacies of which occasion its name.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. viii. 219 He conducted Tressilian..through a long intricacy of passages.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. ii. 66 Every intricacy was plainly mapped out in his own mind.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1602