knotty
Americanadjective
-
a knotty piece of wood.
-
involved, intricate, or difficult.
a knotty problem.
- Synonyms:
- complicated, complex
adjective
-
(of wood, rope, etc) full of or characterized by knots
-
extremely difficult or intricate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of knotty
First recorded in 1200–50, knotty is from the Middle English word cnotti. See knot 1, -y 1
Explanation
Whether it’s pine or problems, sometimes the word knotty can apply to both. Knotty can describe something that has a lot of knots, either literally or figuratively. The adjective knotty is a way to describe something that’s covered in knots. It can be used in a literal sense to refer to wood that is covered in hard, irregular knots — you’ve probably seen these circular, knobby imperfections that sometime appear on wood. The word can also be used figuratively to describe something that is intricate and difficult to solve, such as a knotty political problem involving two warring nations or a knotty legal issue involving complicated constitutional issues.
Vocabulary lists containing knotty
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The BFG
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"Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales
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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.
See Examples For:
Jenée Desmond-Harris offers advice on untangling this knotty disagreement.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
His last three films before adapting a millennia-old poem were a historical epic about an evacuation operation, a time-travel thriller that’s knotty to the point of confusion and a biopic on a physicist.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
But for those with an ear for knotty structures that sometimes feel like puzzle pieces, taking in the whole of the record is rewarding, even fun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
As a portrait of an artist at a crossroads, it's compellingly knotty.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
I drag my garbage bag across the backyard and underneath the maple tree with thick leaves and knotty roots.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Engineers say Copilot saves them hundreds of hours a month by handling tedious and repetitive tasks, affording them time to focus on knottier challenges.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
The band’s set mixed crisp Vampire Weekend oldies and a few knottier new tunes from its just-released fifth album, “Only God Was Above Us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Later the Picasso inheritance grew knottier, with feminist historians and scholars of African and Oceanic art revealing the oversights and injuries of his omnivorous visual appetite.
From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
Once the low-hanging fruit have been plucked what remains are more obscure concepts, knottier problems, mature markets, dustier corners in the attic of invention.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2021
"A problem all the knottier, I suspect," began Whittaker— "Didn't I tell you?" interrupted Father Riley.
From The Seeker by Wilson, Harry Leon
This massive achievement solves one of the knottiest problems in biology, and it won the AI’s creators a $3-million Breakthrough Prize.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 15, 2022
Gordon’s characters tend to be tough on themselves, convinced that diligent thinking and rethinking can untangle the knottiest problems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2020
Even through his knottiest lyrics, he’s been trying to convince us that the American Dream is a farce for more than half a century.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2020
The chewiest, knottiest song here is the title track, which concludes the album, a six-minute meditation that feels designed, after a half-hour of reckoning, to be inconclusive.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2020
After a long pause, Hermione voiced the knottiest question of all in a hesitant voice.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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.
