tangle
13
5.5
- noun
- /ˈtæŋɡəl/
:
enredo
- She found herself in a tangle of emotions after the unexpected news.
- a tangle of problems
- a legal tangle
- a tangle of words
It ends up looking more like a like a tangle of rubber band ball, right?
- It ends up looking more like a like a tangle of rubber band ball, right?
- Yeah, I, I the American left on this is, is in a bizarre tangle and I cannot figure out why.
- Yeah, I, I the American left on this is, is, you know, bizarre tangle and I cannot figure out why.
- And he's so old that that it's, you know, an old man from the chest on up the rest, a tangle of pumps and hoses and dials.
- And hopefully as tangles on the bridges can be built, Belfast is a better play, a snag.
Examples
-
We lived in a tangle of tunnels and rooms hollowed out of packed dirt.
Fiction book (2001) -
I'm tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives.
-
Now the picture is a tangle of riders, foot soldiers and dead bodies.
-
Their rules offer a confusing tangle of morality, whereas mine are very simple.
-
To many Americans, the Cold War divisions have given way to a confusing tangle of problems.
Academic text (1996) -
On the deck of the barge is a tangle of cables and girders.
Fiction book (1996) -
The next week was a tangle of wedding preparations and subterfuge... what with traveling uptown to see Max, and downtown to see Lee.
-
McNamara stares out at the bewildering tangle of symbols, living men behind each one.
Fiction book (2000) -
Everywhere you look, you pull on any single thread, any single fact, and you're soon besieged with a tangle of subsidiary questions.
-
The forest was a tangle of branches and vines, making it hard to walk through.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A situation in which things are untidy and confused
77
4.5
A confusing situation or system that is hard to understand
25
7.9
A difficult situation that is hard to escape or solve
20
4.6
A confused mixture of things or ideas
14
7.3
A messy mixture of different things thrown together
9
5.0
A confused, disorganized situation where things are not in order
8
1.8
A thick mass of things tangled together, like hair or seaweed
7
6.4
A confused mix of different things
3
7.7
A confused, complicated situation that is hard to understand
2
8.4
A very large, messy situation that is hard to fix
1
9.9
A messy mixture of different things
1
9.9
A confusing, chaotic situation with many mixed-up parts
A state of confusion where things are unclear or messy
A confused mix of different things like old toys and books
A confused, messy situation when plans go wrong
A confused, messy situation where plans go wrong
Antonyms
Compounds
- Australian
An orchid with tangled roots, thin wiry stems, and small fragrant green flowers
How Complicated
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tangle originally meant things caught together, and by image it came to mean a confused or mixed-up situation. So a political or emotional tangle is something twisted and hard to sort out.