tangled

/ˈtæŋgəld/

/ˈtæŋgəld/

Tangled is an adjective that describes a confused mass. You're likely to hear tangled used most often when referring to hair. If it's tangled, you can't brush or comb through it.

Other than discussing hair, tangled can be used to refer to anything that's jumbled up and confused. Like that tangled pile of wires behind your television and computer that you keep tripping over. Tangled can also mean something highly complicated or intricate, like the relationships between ex-wives, ex-husbands and stepchildren in a family. The word tangled is most famous for being included in a well-known literary quote from Sir Walter Scott's poem, "Marmion" — "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive."

Definitions of tangled

1. adjective

   in a confused mass
   “pushed back her tangled hair”

   “the tangled ropes”

   synonyms:

   afoul, foul, fouled

   especially of a ship's lines etc

   enmeshed, intermeshed

   caught as if in a mesh

   entangled

   twisted together in a tangled mass

   knotty, snarled, snarly

   tangled in knots or snarls

   matted

   tangled in a dense mass

   rootbound

   having the roots matted or densely tangled

   thrown, thrown and twisted

   twisted together; as of filaments spun into a thread

   antonyms:

   untangled

   not tangled

   disentangled, loosened, unsnarled

   straightened out
2. adjective

   highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious
   “"Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott”

   synonyms: Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tortuous

   complex

   complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts