tangle
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring together into a mass of confusedly interlaced or intertwisted threads, strands, or other like parts; snarl.
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to involve in something that hampers, obstructs, or overgrows.
The bushes were tangled with vines.
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to catch and hold in or as if in a net or snare.
verb (used without object)
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to be or become tangled.
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Informal. to come into conflict; fight or argue.
I don't want to tangle with him over the new ruling.
noun
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a tangled condition or situation.
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a tangled or confused mass or assemblage of something.
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a confused jumble.
a tangle of contradictory statements.
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Informal. a conflict; disagreement.
He got into a tangle with the governor.
noun
noun
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a confused or complicated mass of hairs, lines, fibres, etc, knotted or coiled together
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a complicated problem, condition, or situation
verb
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to become or cause to become twisted together in a confused mass
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to come into conflict; contend
to tangle with the police
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(tr) to involve in matters which hinder or confuse
to tangle someone in a shady deal
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(tr) to ensnare or trap, as in a net
noun
Other Word Forms
- tanglement noun
- tangler noun
- tangly adverb
Etymology
Origin of tangle1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tangilen, tagilen “to entangle,” probably from a Scandinavian language; compare Swedish (dialect) taggla “to disarrange”
Origin of tangle2
First recorded in 1530–40; from a Scandinavian language; compare Old Norse thǫngull “strand of tangle,” Norwegian tang
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.
In Seelampuri, a low‑income Delhi neighbourhood home to one of India's largest informal e‑waste hubs, narrow alleys spill over with tangled cables and broken devices.
From Barron's
The script was rushed, the plotting tangled and confusing.
From Los Angeles Times
His thoughts got so tangled that his mind gave up trying to revise his memory of seeing Angela vanish.
From Literature
He curled spikily around her neck and they towed the wagon across the grassland, up to the tangled vines and ferns of the rain forest.
From Literature
Would Treacy, who was running in third when he tangled with Liu, have won a medal if there were fewer men on the track?
From BBC
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.
