Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Intricate \In"tri*cate\, a. [L. intricatus, p. p. of intricare
   to entangle, perplex. Cf. {Intrigue}, {Extricate}.]
   Entangled; involved; perplexed; complicated; difficult to
   understand, follow, arrange, or adjust; as, intricate
   machinery, labyrinths, accounts, plots, etc.

         His style was fit to convey the most intricate business
         to the understanding with the utmost clearness.
                                                  --Addison.

         The nature of man is intricate.          --Burke.

   Syn: {Intricate}, {Complex}, {Complicated}.

   Usage: A thing is complex when it is made up of parts; it is
          complicated when those parts are so many, or so
          arranged, as to make it difficult to grasp them; it is
          intricate when it has numerous windings and confused
          involutions which it is hard to follow out. What is
          complex must be resolved into its parts; what is
          complicated must be drawn out and developed; what is
          intricate must be unraveled.

Intricate \In"tri*cate\, v. t.
   To entangle; to involve; to make perplexing. [Obs.]

         It makes men troublesome, and intricates all wise
         discourses.                              --Jer. Taylor.

Source : WordNet®

intricate
     adj : highly involved or intricate; "the Byzantine tax structure";
           "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning";
           "intricate needlework"; "an intricate labyrinth of
           refined phraseology"; "the plot was too involved"; "a
           knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine
           maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir
           Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous
           negotiations lasting for months" [syn: {Byzantine}, {convoluted},
            {involved}, {knotty}, {labyrinthine}, {tangled}, {tortuous}]