tangle
/ˈteɪ̯ŋɡəl/ noun C1- A tangled twisted mass.
- A complicated or confused state or condition. · I tried to sort through this tangle and got nowhere.
- An argument, conflict, dispute, or fight.
- A region of the projection of a knot such that the knot crosses its perimeter exactly four times.
- A paired helical fragment of tau protein found in a nerve cell and associated with Alzheimer's disease.
- A form of art which consists of sections filled with repetitive patterns.
Plural tangles
From the library
MacDonald sat with his chin on his hands and his great sandy eyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle.
“I have now in my hands,” my companion said, confidently, “all the threads which have formed such a tangle.
Its windows looked east and west; through the west one, looking out on the back yard, came a flood of mellow June sunlight; but the east one, whence you got a glimpse of the bloom white cherry-trees in the left orchard and nodding, slender birches down in the hollow by the brook, was greened over by a tangle of vines.
Then she swayed, lost her balance, stumbled, staggered, and fell, sliding down over the sun-baked roof and crashing off it through the tangle of Virginia creeper beneath--all before the dismayed circle below could give a simultaneous, terrified shriek.
Other matches
Learn tangle in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.