knot

¹ American  

[not] / nɒt /

noun

1. an interlacing, twining, looping, etc., of a cord, rope, or the like, drawn tight into a knob or lump, for fastening, binding, or connecting two cords together or a cord to something else.

2. a piece of ribbon or similar material tied or folded upon itself and used or worn as an ornament.

3. a group or cluster of persons or things.

   a knot of spectators.

   Synonyms:

   crowd, gang, crew, band, company

4. the hard, cross-grained mass of wood at the place where a branch joins the trunk of a tree.

5. a part of this mass showing in a piece of lumber, wood panel, etc.

6. Anatomy, Zoology. a protuberance or swelling on or in a part or process, as in a muscle.

7. a protuberance in the tissue of a plant; an excrescence on a stem, branch, or root; a node or joint in a stem, especially when of swollen form.

   Synonyms:

   gnarl, knob, lump

8. any of various fungal diseases of trees characterized by the formation of an excrescence, knob, or gnarl.

9. an involved, intricate, or difficult matter; complicated problem.

   Synonyms:

   conundrum, puzzle, perplexity

10. Nautical.

    1. a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile or about 1.15 statute miles per hour.

    2. a unit of 47 feet 3 inches (13.79 meters) on a logline, marked off by knots.

    3. a nautical mile.

11. a bond or tie.

    the knot of matrimony.

12. Also called joint, node. Mathematics. in interpolation, one of the points at which the values of a function are assigned.

---

verb (used with object)

• knots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• knotted,
  past participle,  past
• knotting
  present participle

1. to tie in a knot; form a knot in.

2. to secure or fasten by a knot.

3. to form protuberances, bosses, or knobs in; make knotty.

verb (used without object)

• knots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• knotted,
  past participle,  past
• knotting
  present participle

1. to become tied or tangled in a knot.

2. to form knots or joints.

idioms

1. tie the knot, to marry.

   They will tie the knot in November.

knot ² American  

[not] / nɒt /

noun

1. either of two large sandpipers, Calidris canutus or C. tenuirostris, that breed in the Arctic and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

---

knot ¹ British  

/ nɒt /

noun

1. any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a piece of rope, cord, etc, in upon itself, to another piece of rope, or to another object

2. a prescribed method of tying a particular knot

3. a tangle, as in hair or string

4. a decorative bow or fastening, as of ribbon or braid

5. a small cluster or huddled group

6. a tie or bond

   the marriage knot

7. a difficult problem

8. a protuberance or lump of plant tissues, such as that occurring on the trunks of certain trees

9. 1. a hard mass of wood at the point where a branch joins the trunk of a tree

   2. a cross section of this, usually roundish and cross-grained, visible in a piece of timber

10. a sensation of constriction, caused by tension or nervousness

    his stomach was tying itself in knots

11. 1. pathol a lump of vessels or fibres formed in a part, as in a muscle

    2. anatomy a protuberance on an organ or part

12. a unit of speed used by nautical vessels and aircraft, being one nautical mile (about 1.15 statute miles or 1.85 km) per hour

13. one of a number of equally spaced knots on a log line used to indicate the speed of a ship in nautical miles per hour

14. very fast

15. to completely perplex or confuse someone

16. informal to get married

---

verb

1. (tr) to tie or fasten in a knot

2. to form or cause to form into a knot

3. (tr) to ravel or entangle or become ravelled or entangled

4. (tr) to make (an article or a design) by tying thread in an interlaced pattern of ornamental knots, as in macramé

knot ² British  

/ nɒt /

noun

1. a small northern sandpiper, Calidris canutus, with a short bill and grey plumage

---

knot More Idioms  

1. see tie into knots; tie the knot.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• knotter
  noun
• knotless
  adjective
• knotlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• knotting
  present
• knotted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• knot
  simple
• knots
  simple
• have knotted
  perfect
• has knotted
  perfect
• am knotting
  progressive
• are knotting
  progressive
• is knotting
  progressive
• have been knotting
  perfect progressive
• has been knotting
  perfect progressive

Past

• knotted
  simple
• had knotted
  perfect
• was knotting
  progressive
• were knotting
  progressive
• had been knotting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will knot
  simple
• will have knotted
  perfect
• will be knotting
  progressive
• will have been knotting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of knot¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun knot(t)e, cnotte, cnot(e), Old English cnotta; cognate with Dutch knot, German knoten “to knit ”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of knot²

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; origin unknown

Explanation

A knot is a securely fastened loop of string, rope, or fabric. Before kids learn to tie their shoelaces, they first have to learn to tie a simple knot. If someone asks you to "tie the knot," give it some thought since they are asking you to get married. Sailors need to know how to make many different rope knots, and doctors learn to tie knots with the thin sutures they use to stitch wounds closed. You can also talk about a group or tight gathering of people as a knot: "A knot of fans formed around the movie star as she walked down the street." When you knot something, you tie it into knots or make a situation more complicated and snarled.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

knot knots knotted knotting

Country star Zach Bryan has reportedly forked over $18.25 million for a sprawling estate in Franklin, Tenn.—months after tying the knot with Samantha Leonard.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Last October, she was getting ready to tie the knot at a gorgeous hilltop ceremony in Nashville when inspiration struck.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

It was this reputation that appealed to Patryk and Angelika, both 27, who travelled from north-west England to tie the knot there.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Barely a week after tying the knot with Taylor Swift in July, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was back at work inside Johnny O’s Gymnasium in Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

My body was a knot of raw nerves and nausea, my lungs crushed against my rib cage like a prisoner in an iron maiden.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

The speed slowed to about 390 knots from almost 600 knots over 43 seconds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Within 30 seconds, the plane reached its final ground speed of 65 knots, or about 75 miles an hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

My stomach was in knots as I pictured myself clad in a lemon chiffon dress looking like a dollop of meringue, doing the Viennese waltz — something resembling a Centrum Silver commercial.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

These leaked Libyan intelligence documents contain information that could potentially put an end to the doubt, theories and countertheories that have tied so many, including me, in knots.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

No relying on knots to fasten my tiny quilt stitches into place.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Charismatic and volatile, Shakur delivered intricately knotted verses—seductive then somber, mushy then menacing—in a voice scuffed by carton-loads of Newports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

I studied the pastries while pretending not to listen: tea-infused buns knotted with candied citrus, laminated pastry layered with spiced cream cheese, craggy oat muffins dotted with boysenberry preserves.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Think: a jersey dress with knotted ruching in an unexpected shade of green, or leather mules with an inverted heel that makes you look twice.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

Brunson's layup -- after teammate Jose Alvarado's second steal in 20 seconds -- knotted it at 103-103 with 1:26 remaining and Brunson put the Knicks up for good, 105-103, with 29 seconds left.

From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026

It began to roll and twist, lengthening and thinning, until it looked like a long black cord knotted at one end.

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

As they craft, artisans chant aloud the design code handwritten on a strip of paper known as talim -- shorthand of ancient symbols for numbers and colours -- knotting the threads string by string.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

We host volunteers for dinner and knotting comforters for refugees many Monday evenings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

Dominic Fletcher hit a ground ball to short that his brother, David, couldn’t field despite a diving try, scoring Emmanuel Rivera and knotting the score at 1.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 2, 2023

And the woman seen knotting while the credits roll taught everyone how to work the looms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2023

She tied a string to the back of the chair, knotting it five times, and held the ball in her spare hand.

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas

Related Words

• clump
• cluster
• mob
• swarm