tangle

1. 1

   To mix together or intertwine.transitive

2. 2

   To become mixed together or intertwined.intransitive

   • Her hair was tangled from a day in the wind.
3. 3

   To enter into an argument, conflict, dispute, or fight.figurativelyintransitive

   • Don't tangle with someone three times your size.
   • He tangled with the law.
4. 4

   To catch and hold.transitive

   • tangled in amorous nets
   • When my simple weakness strays, / Tangled in forbidden ways.

syn. enmesh · ensnare · ensnarl · entangle · foul · implicate · imply · involve · mat · ravel · snarl · tangle

ant. untangle

1. 1

   A tangled twisted mass.

2. 2

   A complicated or confused state or condition.

   • I tried to sort through this tangle and got nowhere.
3. 3

   An argument, conflict, dispute, or fight.

4. 4

   A region of the projection of a knot such that the knot crosses its perimeter exactly four times.

5. 5

   A paired helical fragment of tau protein found in a nerve cell and associated with Alzheimer's disease.

6. 6

   A form of art which consists of sections filled with repetitive patterns.

1. 1

   Any large type of seaweed, especially a species of Laminaria.countableuncountable

   • […] if with thee the roaring wells ⁠Should gulf him fathom-deep in brine; ⁠And hands so often clasp’d in mine, Should toss with tangle and with shells.
   • You've never smelled the tangle o' the Isles.
2. 2

   An instrument consisting essentially of an iron bar to which are attached swabs, or bundles of frayed rope, or other similar substances, used to capture starfishes, sea urchins, and other similar creatures living at the bottom of the sea.countablein-pluraluncountable

3. 3

   Any long hanging thing, even a lanky person.Scotlandcountableuncountable