Learn English – the difference between “intertwine” and “interweave”

differencesmeaning

I'm not a native speaker and I came across with two different words with (as far as I understand) similar meanings. I wonder, what is difference between words "intertwine" and "interweave"?

Edit: It looks like the difference between the twining and weaving is something like this:

Weaving:
Image of woven rushes

Twining:

Image of vine stems twisting about each other

Again, according to what I researched, they look like they are different ways of engagements. However, I wonder is there any difference between "interweave" and "intertwine"?

Do they have anything to do with these ways of engagements?

Twining image by Ian Sauer, Carolina Wandering blog

Best Answer

After looking up the words, I'm unable to come up with an objective difference, other than what has already been described as the difference between the verbs twining and weaving. So this answer is admittedly very subjective.

  1. Intertwine implies a circular, twisting, or rotary motion. Interweave implies a flatter, back-and-forth or up-and-down motion.
  2. Both words tend to be used metaphorically...
  3. Metaphorically, intertwine tends to be used when describing just two things. And it carries a little bit of a negative or difficult to separate connotation. "The man and his wife were intertwined in a pattern of co-dependency."
  4. Metaphorically, interweave tends to be used when describing two or more things. It carries a less negative connotation, and the implication is that the interactions are more complicated and intricate, but not necessarily difficult to separate. "The board members interweaved a complex dance of negotiations."
  5. As far as I can tell, "entwine" has the same denotation as "intertwine," but entwine tends to be used in more positive situations: "The man and his wife were entwined in an embrace."