rat's nest
Americannoun
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.
Deftly unraveling the tangled politics of the moment, Mr. Wallace vividly shows La Guardia juggling factions of fusionist Republicans, communists, interventionists, isolationists, Tammany pols and a rat’s nest of the city’s fierce ethnic rivalries.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
Mine was just a complete nightmare rat's nest and it's always the bane of my existence.
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2023
“It’s about a group of guys who unknowingly walked into this rat’s nest, and how political forces impacted a group of individuals.”
From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2023
I’ve had a rat’s nest under my desk for ages, and I’ve tried a number of cord keepers and wraps before… but this year I stumbled onto these privacy panels with built-in pockets for cables.
From The Verge • Apr. 27, 2022
But I couldn't stomach crawling back into that cramped, smelly rat's nest.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
