extricate

extricate vb Extricate, disentangle, untangle, disencumber, disembarrass are comparable when meaning to free or release from what binds or holds back.

Extricate, the most widely useful of these words, implies a situation in which someone or something is so entangled (as in difficulties or perplexities) or so restrained (as from freedom of action or movement) that great force or ingenuity is required to bring about a release

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the fly was not able to extricate itself from the spider's web

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extricate himself from financial difficulties

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extricate his car from the mud into which its wheels had sunk

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my success in having extricated myself from an awkward predicament— Heiser

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Disentangle adheres far more closely than extricate to its basic sense of to free from what entangles; also, it is used typically of things rather than of persons and therefore seldom involves the ideas of difficulty or perplexity except for the person who seeks to free the thing entangled or to unravel what is intricately complicated

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disentangle a strand from a twisted skein

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[Seneca] is a dramatist . . . whom the whole of Europe in the Renaissance delighted to honor. It is obviously a task of some difficulty to disentangle him from his reputation— T. S. Eliot

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I could not then so far analyze all that is roughly lumped together as "religion" as to disentangle the essential from the accidental— Ellis

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Untangle is sometimes used in place of disentangle with much the same implications

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leaned down to untangle his foot from a vine in which it was caught

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drank, set down his glass, and untangled his legs— Basso

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Disencumber implies a freeing from what weighs down, clogs, or imposes a very heavy burden

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he can call a spade a spade, and knows how to disencumber ideas of their wordy frippery— George Eliot

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the trees, laden heavily with their new and humid leaves, were now suffering more damage than during the highest winds of winter, when the boughs are specially disencumbered to do battle with the storm— Hardy

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Disembarrass implies a release from what embarrasses by or as if by impeding, hampering, or hindering

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disembarrass himself of his companion— Scott

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disembarrass ourselves of the curse of ignorance and learn to work together— Alvin Johnson

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Chamberlain, at several critical junctures, preferred to disembarrass himself of trained, expert advisers— Namier

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Analogous words: disengage, *detach, abstract: liberate, release, *free: *rescue, deliver

Contrasted words: *hamper, fetter, trammel, shackle, clog, hog-tie, manacle: impede, obstruct, *hinder, block