entrapment

Etymology

It is formed from English entrap + -ment.^[2][3][4] The verb Entrap, recorded from 1531, is formed from en- and trap according to the OED, which compares Old French entraper (“to catch in a trap”), recorded from the late 12th century;^[2] Etymonline takes the English verb directly from the Old French one.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of catching in a trap, or the state of being trapped: Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1597,^[5] Etymonline to the 1590s,^[3] and the revised OED's first quotation is from Samuel Daniel's Civile Wares (1609).^[2]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the word meant any trapping or ensnaring, often figuratively, of being lured into trouble by deceit, as the verb entrap was used from 1531.^[2][6] The legal sense, the practice of inducing a person to commit an offence in order to obtain evidence against him or her, is recorded by 1896 according to Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first record is from 1899, in the American Digest.^[2] In law the word also names the defence that the accused was so induced by a police officer or government agent.^[7] British dictionaries extend it to a journalist luring someone into a crime.^[8] Technical writers use it for the trapping of air or gas inside a material.^[5]

Timeline

• 1597 – the act of entrapping, or the state of being trapped.^[5] The OED's first record is from 1609.^[2]
• 1896 – in law, inducing a person to commit a crime in order to prosecute him or her.^[3] The OED's first record is from 1899.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of catching someone or something in a trap, or the state of being trapped: the entrapment of air bubbles in the glass.^[5][2]
2. (law) The luring of a person by a police officer or agent into committing a crime, so that the person can be prosecuted.^[5][8][7][2]
3. (law) The defence that one committed the offence only because one was so induced.^[7]

Related words

• entrap
• trap

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ a b c Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins