To Be Involved With
To Get Tangled, To Entwine
intransitive verb, godan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means entangle, but this verb version is usually used in a figurative sense, so it means to be involved with, as in 事件に絡む (to be involved with an incident).
絡む can still describe something thread-like winding around something else though, like ツタが木に絡む (the ivy twines around the tree), so it also means to get tangled and to entwine. Note that this use is still intransitive because it focuses on the state of things being entwined, and に marks the location of the action, not a direct object.
To remember that this is intransitive, imagine suddenly hearing a lot of mooing (む) and turning around to find that your cows have somehow gotten entangled. They're all just suddenly in a knot. HOW??
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
There's an accident you happen to be involved with in からて class, where it's common to get tangled up during sparring. This time you and your partner's limbs are literally in a big entangled mess. Good luck getting out of that.
これ、色んな問題が絡んでて、やっかいな問題なんですよね。
This is a tricky issue because of the many problems involved.
アイツ、お金が絡むと人が変わるよな。
That guy changes when money is involved, huh?
タンがノドにずっと絡んでて、気持ち悪いんだよね。
I have phlegm stuck in my throat, and it's really uncomfortable.
パスタにしっかりソースが絡んでて、美味しい！
The sauce is so well mixed with the pasta, it's delicious.
酒を飲んで人に絡む人は苦手です。
I'm not fond of people who drink and bother others.