knottiness
- noun
- /ˈnɑːtiness/
- The knottiness of the puzzle made it challenging for the team to reach a solution.
Examples
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The knottiness of the legal case led to lengthy discussions among the lawyers.
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Her essay explores the knottiness of ethical dilemmas in modern society.
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The knottiness in the line of succession persists in the next generation, when Edmund's sons, Eadwig and Edgar, come into contention, with widespread ramifications, including disputes around the Benedictine Reform.
Academic text (2016)
Synonyms
Many connected parts make something hard to understand
Difficulty understanding something because it is complex or unclear
A very clever and difficult puzzle or plan that confuses people
Being difficult to deal with and needing skill or care
The state of having many connected parts that are hard to understand
Having many parts or details that are hard to understand
The quality of being very difficult to understand because it is complex
Difficulty understanding something because it is very complex
Very hard to understand because the ideas are unclear or complicated
How difficult something is to do or understand
How hard something is to do, deal with, or understand
A quality of having many twists that makes paths or ideas hard to follow
A matter that is complicated and causes strong disagreement
Antonyms
How Complex
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Knottiness comes from the simple word knot, originally an old English word for a tight tangle in a rope. Think of a rope full of knots that is hard to untie — that image explains why knottiness means 'extreme complexity' or 'difficulty to solve'.