tangled
Americanadjective
-
snarled, interlaced, or mixed up.
tangled thread.
-
very complicated, intricate, or involved.
tangled bureaucratic procedures.
Etymology
Origin of tangled
Explanation
Tangled is an adjective that describes a confused mass. You're likely to hear tangled used most often when referring to hair. If it's tangled, you can't brush or comb through it. Other than discussing hair, tangled can be used to refer to anything that's jumbled up and confused. Like that tangled pile of wires behind your television and computer that you keep tripping over. Tangled can also mean something highly complicated or intricate, like the relationships between ex-wives, ex-husbands and stepchildren in a family. The word tangled is most famous for being included in a well-known literary quote from Sir Walter Scott's poem, "Marmion" — "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive."
Vocabulary lists containing tangled
"American Names"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Call it megalomania, genius, madness, audacity, irresponsibility, whatever you want,” said Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico who once tangled with Castro.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
His far stranger movie after that, 2019’s “Under the Silver Lake,” was a genre-defying Los Angeles comic-noir with Andrew Garfield as a hipster tangled up in a bizarre cult.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
One excellent vegetable can be cooked down with butter and tangled through pasta.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
For Messi right now, the emotions arrive tangled together: relief, pressure, family, the crowd, team-mates who love him and want - more than anything - to see him win again.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The threads stayed tangled tight inside me all day.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
