Gordian

American  

[gawr-dee-uhn] / ˈgɔr di ən /

adjective

1. pertaining to Gordius, ancient king of Phrygia, who tied a knot the Gordian knot that, according to prophecy, was to be undone only by the person who was to rule Asia, and that was cut, rather than untied, by Alexander the Great.

2. resembling the Gordian knot in intricacy.

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idioms

1. cut the Gordian knot,  to act quickly and decisively in a difficult situation; solve a problem boldly.

Etymology

Origin of Gordian

1555–65; < Latin Gordi ( us ) (< Greek Górdios Gordius) + -an

Example Sentences

If generations of diplomats viewed the post-Soviet challenges of Eastern Europe as a Gordian knot to be painstakingly unraveled, the president envisioned an easy fix: The borders matter less than the business.

From The Wall Street Journal

Shapiro dexterously untangles the Gordian knot of their entwined passions, shared ambitions and business bottom lines.

From Los Angeles Times

The tangled wars in Sudan, Ethiopia and their neighbours cry out for bold action - and if he were so minded, Trump might cut the Gordian Knot.

From BBC

"I think we've seen a significant change this year. It's what I call an assertive transparency campaign," says retired Colonel Raymond Powell of Stanford University's Gordian Knot Centre.

From BBC

Essentially, by plugging the equations of the Standard Model into powerful computers, researchers can numerically approximate the mess of hadronic blobs, cutting through the subatomic Gordian knot.

From Scientific American

Related Words

• arduous
• convoluted
• difficult
• fancy
• hard
• intricate
• knotty
• perplexing
• problematic
• sophisticated
• troublesome