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Word of the DaySunday, June 04, 2006

extricate

\EK-struh-kayt\ , transitive verb:

To free or release from a difficulty or entanglement; to get free; to disengage.

Quotes:

Sean introduced himself and then extricated his hand from Ronan's persistent grasp in order to show him the photo.

-- Naeem Murr, The Boy

Ultimately they extricated Ned by lifting up the whole table-and-chair structure, thus allowing him to fall out onto the floor.

-- Joan L. Richards, Angles of Reflection: Logic and a Mother's Love

I knelt down, either out of weakness or out of gratitude to a god who had extricated me from yet another predicament.

-- Christa Wolf, Medea: A Modern Retelling

Origin:

Extricate comes from Latin extricare, "to disentangle, to extricate," from ex-, "out" + tricae, "trifles, impediments, perplexities."