tangled
[tang-guh ld]
- snarled, interlaced, or mixed up: tangled thread.
- very complicated, intricate, or involved: tangled bureaucratic procedures.
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Origin of tangled
tangle1
[tang-guh l]
- to bring together into a mass of confusedly interlaced or intertwisted threads, strands, or other like parts; snarl.
- to involve in something that hampers, obstructs, or overgrows: The bushes were tangled with vines.
- to catch and hold in or as if in a net or snare.
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- to be or become tangled.
- Informal. to come into conflict; fight or argue: I don't want to tangle with him over the new ruling.
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- a tangled condition or situation.
- a tangled or confused mass or assemblage of something.
- a confused jumble: a tangle of contradictory statements.
- Informal. a conflict; disagreement: He got into a tangle with the governor.
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Origin of tangle1
1300–50; Middle English tangilen, tagilen to entangle < Scandinavian; compare Swedish (dial.) taggla to disarrange
Synonyms
See more synonyms for tangle on Thesaurus.com8. snarl, net, labyrinth, maze.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tangled
Contemporary Examples
The relationships, and motivations of their chief participants, are as tangled and shady as you expect of the super-rich.
He acquired $1 billion worth of art and tangled scandalously with the authorities.
The drain clogs in the shower every few days, and the clump of tangled brown hair is springy between my fingers.
Palmer is, of course, just as tangled up, as human, as everybody else--and he knows it.
What astonishment that such beauty urges me into bed for a nightlong sweaty roll in tangled sheets.
Historical Examples
"Aaron Goldschmidt," he whispered, as we descended into a dry, tangled swamp.
The CavalierGeorge Washington Cable
The last I saw of the trenches was the tangled line on Fusilier Bluff.
With Manchesters in the EastGerald B. Hurst
If he hadn't been tangled up in his cod line, so we could haul him up by that, he'd have been down yet.
Cape Cod StoriesJoseph C. Lincoln
It is unnecessary to repeat the whole of the long and tangled conversation that ensued.
Cap'n EriJoseph Crosby Lincoln
My life has been one long error, and the threads of my fate have been tangled.
A Son of HagarSir Hall Caine
tangle1
- a confused or complicated mass of hairs, lines, fibres, etc, knotted or coiled together
- a complicated problem, condition, or situation
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- to become or cause to become twisted together in a confused mass
- (intr often foll by with) to come into conflict; contendto tangle with the police
- (tr) to involve in matters which hinder or confuseto tangle someone in a shady deal
- (tr) to ensnare or trap, as in a net
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Word Origin
C14 tangilen, variant of tagilen, probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish dialect taggla to entangle
tangle2
tangle weed
- alternative names (esp Scot) for oarweed
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Word Origin
C16: of Scandinavian origin: compare Danish tang seaweed
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for tangled
tangle
v.
mid-14c., nasalized variant of tagilen "to involve in a difficult situation, entangle," from a Scandinavian source (cf. dialectal Swedish taggla "to disorder," Old Norse þongull "seaweed"). In reference to material things, from c.1500. Meaning "to fight with" is American English, first recorded 1928. Related: Tangled; tangling. Tanglefoot (1859) was Western American English slang for "strong whiskey."
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tangle
n.
1610s, "a tangled condition," from tangle (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper