To entrap means to catch someone in a trap or trick them into a situation they can't escape. When a spider entraps a fly in its web, the fly becomes stuck and helpless. When someone entraps another person, they're using deception or trickery to catch them, often pushing them to do something they wouldn't normally do.

In law enforcement, entrapment has a specific meaning. If police entrap someone, they trick or pressure an otherwise law-abiding person into committing a crime they wouldn't have committed on their own. For example, imagine an undercover officer repeatedly begging someone to break the law, offering them money, and refusing to take no for an answer until the person finally gives in. That's entrapment, and it's considered unfair because the police created the crime rather than preventing one that would have happened anyway.

The word suggests cunning, deception, or an unfair setup. You might read in a mystery novel about a detective who entraps the villain by getting them to confess through a clever trick. The feeling of being entrapped is one of helplessness, like realizing too late that you've walked into someone else's carefully planned trap.