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
Guadagnino’s driving interest is attacking academia as a rat’s nest of egomaniacs and cowards and insular, faux-radical thinking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
Mine was just a complete nightmare rat's nest and it's always the bane of my existence.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2023
His hair is a rat’s nest, and his raggedy cloak has been rendered with just a simple calligraphic loop.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever, and his hair was a rat’s nest.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
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.
