tangled

[tang-guhld]

adjective

1. snarled, interlaced, or mixed up.

   tangled thread.

2. very complicated, intricate, or involved.

   tangled bureaucratic procedures.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tangled¹

First recorded in 1580–90; tangle ¹ + -ed ²

Example Sentences

For decades, scientists have known that Alzheimer's disease is marked by sticky plaques and tangled proteins in the brain.

Read more on Science Daily

On the course, elaborate tombs of the city's past rulers poke through tangled trees that are home to peacocks, troops of monkeys and mongooses.

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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.

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“The Perfect Neighbor”: What begins as a vaguely comical and seemingly minor dispute between neighbors arguing about unruly children on a suburban Florida street grows increasingly tangled and, finally, violent.

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This isn’t the first time Ohio’s police forces have tangled with rogue seasonal decor.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• chaotic 
• knotted 
• muddled 
• trapped 
• twisted