trap
[noun]
Synonyms:
- snare, ambush, gin, net, noose, pitfall
- trick, ambush, deception, ruse, stratagem, subterfuge, wile
[verb]
Synonyms:
- catch, corner, enmesh, ensnare, entrap, snare, take
- trick, ambush, beguile, deceive, dupe, ensnare, inveigle

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Related Words: artifice, feint, gambit, maneuver, ploy, ruse, stratagem, wile, birdlime, net, ambuscade, ambush, conspiracy, intrigue, machination, plot, mousetrap, snag

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English Thesaurus: catch, arrest, apprehend, capture, take somebody prisoner, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. trap¹ /træp/ noun [countable]
[Language: Old English; Origin: træppe, treppe]

1. FOR ANIMALS a piece of equipment for catching animals:
The only way to catch mice is to set a trap.
He stepped into a bear trap covered in snow. ⇒ mousetrap

2. CLEVER TRICK a clever trick that is used to catch someone or to make them do or say something that they did not intend to
lay/set a trap (for somebody)
Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories.
fall/walk into a trap
Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match.

3. BAD SITUATION an unpleasant or difficult situation that is difficult to escape from:
Amanda felt that marriage was a trap.
debt/unemployment etc trap
people caught in the unemployment trap

4. fall into/avoid the trap of doing something to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible or wise, or to avoid doing this:
Don’t fall into the trap of investing all your money in one place.

5. keep your trap shut spoken a rude way of telling someone to not say anything about things that are secret:
Just keep your trap shut.

6. shut your trap! spoken a rude way of telling someone to stop talking

7. VEHICLE a vehicle with two wheels, pulled by a horse

8. SPORT American English sandtrap Synonym : bunker British English

9. DOG RACE a special gate from which a greyhound is set free at the beginning of a race
⇒ booby trap, death trap, ⇒ poverty trap at poverty(3), ⇒ speed trap, tourist trap

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. trap² verb (past tense and past participle trapped, present participle trapping) [transitive]

1. IN A DANGEROUS PLACE [usually passive] to prevent someone from escaping from somewhere, especially a dangerous place:
Twenty miners were trapped underground.
Dozens of people were trapped in the rubble when the building collapsed.
There’s no way out! We’re trapped!

2. IN A BAD SITUATION be/feel trapped to be in a bad situation from which you cannot escape
be/feel trapped in
Julia felt trapped in her role of wife and mother.

3. ANIMAL to catch an animal or bird using a trap

4. CATCH SOMEBODY to catch someone by forcing them into a place from which they cannot escape:
The police trapped the terrorists at a roadblock.

5. TRICK to trick someone so that you make them do or say something that they did not intend to
trap somebody into (doing) something
I was trapped into signing a confession.

6. CRUSH British English to get a part of your body crushed between two objects Synonym : pinch American English:
Mind you don’t trap your fingers in the door.
pain from a trapped nerve

7. GAS/WATER ETC to prevent something such as gas or water from getting away:
solar panels that trap the sun’s heat

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

trap
noun
I. hidden equipment used for catching sb/sth
ADJ. animal, bear, man, mouse (also mousetrap), etc. | gin, leghold, pit/pitfall | radar, speed Slow down?there are speed traps along this stretch of road.
VERB + TRAP be/get caught in | catch sth in | free sth from The fox had managed to free itself from the trap.
lay, set | bait Mousetraps are traditionally baited with cheese.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

trap
II. sth that tricks you; unpleasant situation
ADJ. hidden, obvious | potential | booby | deadly | death, debt, poverty, unemployment The overhead cable is a potential death trap for birds.
offside (in football)
VERB + TRAP lay, set | spring | lure sb into | catch sb in | be/get caught in, fall into, stumble into, walk into It is easy to fall into the trap of taking out a loan you cannot afford.
avoid | fear, suspect

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

catch to stop someone who is trying to escape, especially by running after them and then holding them:
He raced after her, but he couldn’t catch her.
The police caught the bank robbers after a car chase through the city.
arrest if the police arrest someone, they take him or her to a police station because they think that person has done something illegal:
Wayne was arrested for dangerous driving.
The police arrested him and charged him with murder.
apprehend formal if the police apprehend someone they think has done something illegal, they catch him or her:
The two men were later apprehended after they robbed another store.
The killers were never apprehended.
All of the kidnappers were apprehended and convicted.
capture to catch an enemy or a criminal in order to keep them as a prisoner:
The French king was captured by the English at the battle of Poitiers in 1356.
The gunmen were finally captured after a shoot-out with the police.
take somebody prisoner to catch someone, especially in a war, in order to keep them as a prisoner:
350 soldiers were killed and another 300 taken prisoner.
Ellison was taken prisoner by the Germans during the retreat to Dunkirk.
trap to make someone go to a place from which they cannot escape, especially by using your skill and intelligence:
Police trapped the man inside a bar on the city’s southside.
corner to force someone into a place from which they cannot escape:
He was cornered outside the school by three gang members.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

trap
̈ɪtræp
See: mind like a steel trap , sand trap , speed trap

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲