Library / English Dictionary

TANGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something jumbled or confused

Example:

a tangle of government regulations

Synonyms:

maze; snarl; tangle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("tangle" is a kind of...):

perplexity (trouble or confusion resulting from complexity)

Derivation:

tangle (tangle or complicate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A twisted and tangled mass that is highly interwoven

Example:

they carved their way through the tangle of vines

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("tangle" is a kind of...):

natural object (an object occurring naturally; not made by man)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tangle"):

hair ball; hairball; trichobezoar (a compact mass of hair that forms in the alimentary canal (especially in the stomach of animals as a result of licking fur))

shag (a matted tangle of hair or fiber)

Derivation:

tangle (twist together or entwine into a confusing mass)

tangle (disarrange or rumple; dishevel)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Twist together or entwine into a confusing mass

Example:

The child entangled the cord

Synonyms:

entangle; mat; snarl; tangle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tangle" is one way to...):

distort; twine; twist (form into a spiral shape)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tangle"):

felt (mat together and make felt-like)

enmesh; ensnarl; mesh (entangle or catch in (or as if in) a mesh)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They tangle their hair

Derivation:

tangle (a twisted and tangled mass that is highly interwoven)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disarrange or rumple; dishevel

Example:

The strong wind tousled my hair

Synonyms:

dishevel; tangle; tousle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tangle" is one way to...):

disarrange (destroy the arrangement or order of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

tangle (a twisted and tangled mass that is highly interwoven)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tangle or complicate

Example:

a ravelled story

Synonyms:

knot; ravel; tangle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tangle" is one way to...):

enlace; entwine; interlace; intertwine; lace; twine (spin, wind, or twist together)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

tangle (something jumbled or confused)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action

Example:

don't drag me into this business

Synonyms:

drag; drag in; embroil; sweep; sweep up; tangle

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "tangle" is one way to...):

involve (engage as a participant)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Different threads, but leading up to the same tangle.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her task was to hold the boat in position while I worked at the tangle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The motions of the sun’s plasma constantly twist and tangle solar magnetic fields . Twisted magnetic fields can lead to solar storms that can negatively affect our technology-dependent modern lifestyles.

(Newest solar telescope produces first images, National Science Foundation)

You won’t want to get tangled up in Mercury’s mix-ups and miscommunications.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A fierce bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold, dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung eyebrows.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Images of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot reveal a tangle of dark, veinous clouds weaving their way through a massive crimson oval.

(NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Spots Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

I thought there were excellent materials in him; though for the present they hung together somewhat spoiled and tangled.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

An AVM is a snarled tangle of arteries and veins.

(Arteriovenous Malformations, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

But they can also create opportunities for escape, like the giant globs cut loose from Saturn and Jupiter when magnetic field lines become tangled.

(The ice giant Uranus appears to be losing a bit of its atmosphere to space, NASA)

A villous structure of tangled masses of BLOOD VESSELS contained within the third, lateral, and fourth ventricles of the BRAIN.

(Choroid plexus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)