Meaning & use
tangle
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To twist things together so that they become knotted and hard to separate.
Grammar: Takes an object or not: the wind tangled her hair; the cables tangled.
Patterns
- tangle something
- tangle up
- get tangled in something
The strong wind tangled her hair.
The fishing lines tangle if you pack them carelessly.
The kitten tangled the yarn around the chair legs.
verbintransitiveinformal
To get into an argument, a fight or a difficult situation with someone.
Grammar: Almost always used with with: tangle with someone.
Patterns
- tangle with someone
- tangle with something
I wouldn't tangle with that lawyer if I were you.
The two senators tangled over the budget again.
nouncountable
A twisted, knotted mass of things that are hard to pull apart.
Grammar: Countable: a tangle of wires, a tangle of branches.
Patterns
- a tangle of something
She spent an hour brushing the tangles out of her daughter's hair.
A tangle of wires hung behind the desk.
The garden was a tangle of weeds.
nouncountablefigurative
A confused or complicated situation that is difficult to sort out.
Grammar: Often figurative: a legal tangle, a tangle of emotions.
Patterns
- a tangle of something
- in a tangle
The estate was caught in a legal tangle for years.
Her feelings were a tangle of joy and fear.
Word forms
| third person singular | tangles |
|---|---|
| past tense | tangled |
| past participle | tangled |
| -ing form | tangling |
| plural noun | tangles |
Common combinations
- tangle with
- Don't tangle with the neighborhood association.
- a tangle of wires
- A tangle of wires lay under the television.
- get tangled up
- The kite string got tangled up in the tree.
- tangled web
- Their lies created a tangled web.
- comb out the tangles
- She combed out the tangles after her swim.
- legal tangle
- A legal tangle delayed the building project.
Synonyms and how they differ
- snarl
- Snarl suggests a harder, tighter knot and is common for traffic and hair, while tangle is the more general word.
- knot
- A knot is a single tied or twisted place, whereas a tangle is a whole messy mass of twisted strands.
- jumble
- Jumble describes a muddled mix of separate items, not necessarily twisted together like a tangle.
- entwine
- Entwine often sounds deliberate and elegant, as in twisting together, while tangle is accidental and untidy.
Opposites
Word family
- tangled adjective
- twisted into a knotted mass, or very complicated
- untangle verb
- to separate things that are knotted together
- entangle verb
- to catch or involve in something that is hard to escape
- entanglement noun
- the state of being caught in a tangle, or a complicated situation
Commonly confused: tangle or tango? tangle or entangle?
tangle vs tango
Tango is a ballroom dance. It sounds somewhat like tangle but is unrelated in meaning.
tangle vs entangle
Entangle is a more formal verb, often meaning to catch someone in a difficult situation, while tangle is the everyday word for physically knotted things.
Practice
I wouldn't ___ with that landlord if I were you; he has taken three tenants to court.
Choose one answer.
Tangle with someone means to get into a conflict with them. Tackle does not take with, and tamper with means to interfere with an object, not to confront a person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tangle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.