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

But it ends up with an outcome that feels as sadly inevitable as it is heartbreaking — an ethical knot that cannot be undone.

From Los Angeles Times ● 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

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

The couple have called the St. Charles property home for more than a decade, having purchased it one year after tying the knot in 2014.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 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 yacht lost all power and steering after making contact with a fish farm in Red Bay, in 60 knots of wind, causing it to become trapped.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

The aircraft touched down at 158 knots, or roughly 181 miles an hour, Shin said.

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

The artist’s eponymous 2025 sculpture, crowned with an array of Bantu knots, ties the entire show together, joining materiality, traditional cultural identity, and the outward-looking nature of the exhibition in a single work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

He had kept his helmet on, because he could not undo the many knots he had tied to keep it on.

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

The Cowboys knotted the game with a field goal as the clock read 0:07.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

The NFC East looks like it’s going to be especially knotted this season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 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

Any irregular signal was thought to mean the strand had knotted as it moved through the pore.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2026

But while Mom’s hair falls in silky plumes around her face, mine is more like a knotted nest.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

After the Hornets erased a three-point half-time deficit, knotting the score at 57-57, the Thunder unleashed a 16-1 scoring run to seize a 15-point lead.

From Barron's ● Nov. 16, 2025

The weaving and knotting is still done by hand, but now computer software handles the design and creation of the talim code.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024

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

Their house spirit, the domovoi, was furious, and in retaliation, he did one of his favorite punishments: knotting Anya’s hair as she slept.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• clump
• cluster
• mob
• swarm

---