rat's nest
2
6.8
- noun
- Informal
:
nido de ratas
- It was really a rat's nest of issues that everyone chose to ignore.
- a rat's nest of cables
- a rat's nest of hair
Examples
-
Good luck finding anything in that rat's nest.
-
It's a rat's nest in there.
-
Inside, there is a regular rat's nest of bills.
Fiction book (1994) -
Robert Bobb has done a stellar job trying to clean out that rat's nest that is the Detroit Public Schools.
Blog text (1) -
Up until now, there had been a shred of hope that things could fall into some state of normalcy, but for certain now her life would be a rat's nest.
Fiction book (1991) -
Frizzy red corkscrew curls, messy as a rat's nest.
Fiction book (1994) -
A rat's nest cluttered with components of his Rube Goldberg-like invention.
Fiction book (1995) -
I can't believe how messy your room is; it's a complete rat's nest!
-
After weeks of neglect, the garage became a rat's nest of old boxes and dust.
-
She walked into the office and saw it was a rat's nest of paperwork and unwashed dishes.
Synonyms
1
8.3
A situation, job, or piece of work that is messy and badly done
A very messy place or situation
A very messy, confused mix of things in one place
A messy collection of many different small things
A very messy place like a room full of toys
Antonyms
How Messy
Surface Forms
Morphology
rat's + nest
The phrase evokes a literal 'nest' belonging to 'rats', which readily suggests tangle, filth, and disorder; a B1 learner who knows 'rat' and 'nest' can plausibly infer the sense of a messy or tangled place. However, the meaning is a metaphorical extension rather than a strictly compositional, literal description, so the sense is somewhat idiomatic and not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
The phrase rat's nest comes from the picture of a real rat making a messy, tangled nest from sticks, cloth and other bits. That's why people call a place that is tangled and full of things 'very messy or disorganized'.