tangly

1 5.1

Full of knots that are hard to undo, like in hair or yarn

adjective
/ˈtæŋɡli/

: enredado

This kind of seaweed tangly thing is a form of love bombing that we don't always recognize.

What I'm going to say is that I love the fact that this is way less tangly than the other long and straight hair, which I find very surprising.

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Examples

It was so tangly, long, and thick; there had never seemed any point.

Fiction book (1990)
What I'm going to say is that I love the fact that this is way less tangly than the other long and straight hair, which I find very surprising.

Patricia Bright
This kind of seaweed tangly thing is a form of love bombing that we don't always recognize.

DoctorRamani
Her long, tangly hair often gets caught on her coat when she puts it on.
I struggled to untangle the tangly strings of Christmas lights before hanging them up.
The tangly vines in the garden kept spreading all over the flowerbeds.

Synonyms

knotted

vstangly

5 3.9

Having rough, twisted bumps on wood or hands

is more about forming knots or twists easily than rough look

knotty

vstangly

3 7.0

Full of hard lumps and tangles, for example in wood or hair

is focused on forming knots or twists easily rather than fixed lumps

snarly

vstangly

1 6.8

Tangled and full of knots like hair or thread

is a general word for anything that easily forms knots

snarled

vstangly

1 5.7

Tangled into messy knots that are hard to separate

is broader used for anything that tends to form knots or twists

Antonyms

smooth

224 1.0

A surface that is even and not rough

untangled

1 3.4

Free of knots and twists and easy to separate or understand

How Tangled

matted

14 5.3

knotted

13 1.9

tangly

1 5.1

untangled

1 3.4

Surface Forms

tangly positive

tanglier comparative

tangliest superlative

Morphology

tangly = tangle (transparent) = tangle + y

The adjective is formed by adding '-y' to 'tangle', meaning 'full of or characterized by tangles', which is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

The word tangly comes from the simple word tangle, which means 'to twist together', and the ending -y means 'full of'. So something tangly is 'full of twists' or knots, which is why hair, yarn, or bushes can be hard to comb or move through.