embroglio

noun

variant of imbroglio

1

a

: an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding

b

: scandal sense 1a

survived the political imbroglio

c

: a violently confused or bitterly complicated altercation : embroilment

America's president and scientific establishment became furiously embroiled with a few writers of popular nature books for children. The imbroglio ended in the rout of the nature writers …

—Matt Cartmill

d

: an intricate or complicated situation (as in a drama or novel)

2

: a confused mass

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