Knotty

Definition: Knotty

Knotty

Adjective

1. Making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home".

2. Used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots; "gnarled and knotted hands"; "a knobbed stick".

3. Highly involved or intricate; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "intricate needlework"; "an intricate labyrinth of refined phraseology"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "knotty" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Knotty \Knot"ty\, adjective. [Comparative Knottier; superlative Knottiest.]. (references)

Synonyms: Knotty

Density

Adjective: dense, solid; solidified. Verb: caseous; pukka; coherent, cohesive; compact, close, serried, thickset; substantial, massive, lumpish; impenetrable, impermeable, nonporous, imporous; incompressible; constipated; concrete. (hard); knotted, knotty; gnarled; crystalline, crystallizable; thick, grumous, stuffy.

Difficulty

Nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point; vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser; puzzle; (riddle); paradox; hard nut to crack, nut to crack; bone to pick,

Awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn; (obstinate); perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine; (convoluted); intricate, complicated; (tangled); impracticable; (impossible); not feasible; desperate; (hopeless).

Inquiry

Question, query, problem, desideratum, point to be solved, porism; subject of inquiry, field of inquiry, subject of controversy; point in dispute, matter in dispute; moot point; issue, question at issue; bone of contention; (discord); plain question, fair question, open question; enigma; (secret); knotty point; (difficulty); quodlibet; threshold of an inquiry.

Crosswords: Knotty

Books

• Baseball's Knotty Problems (reference)

• Goren settles the bridge arguments : authoritative answers to knotty problems that are the cause of frequent misunderstandings at the bridge table (reference)

• Knotty Problems of Baseball (reference)

• Mr Simson's Knotty Case: Divinity, Politics, and Due Process in Early Eighteenth-Century Scotland (McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Ideas) (reference)

• The Gnats of Knotty Pine (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The new South facing its knotty land tenure problem. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Struggling and kicking under the cuts of the cane and the blows of the knotty stump Stephen was borne back against a barbed wire fence

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Japan

Some knotty regulatory barriers and discrimination still exist and when a company cannot solve such problems by itself or through its legal advisers in Japan, the U.S. Government stands ready to help. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "knotty": knotty pine ♦ knotty point ♦ knotty problem ♦ knotty question. Additional references.

Albanian

me nyjë (gnarled, knobby, nodulated), me gdhënj, i ngatërruar (embarrassing, embroiled, entangled, haywire, immersed, involved, labyrinthine, mixed, muddy, tangly, tricky, woozy). (various references)

Arabic 

‏ملىء بالعقد, ‏معقد (busy, complicate, complicated, convoluted, deep, difficult, doctrinarian, entangled, inextricable, intricacy, intricate, invalid, involute, knotted, nasty, perplexing, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tangly, tricky), ‏عسير (complicated, difficult, hard, intractable, malaise, precipitous, severe, strait, strenuous, stubborn, terrible, troublesome, uphill), ‏صعب (arduous, complicate, complicated, difficult, formidable, frustrating, hard and fast, harsh, hot stuff, lean, malaise, mure, nice, outrageous, risque, rough, rum, severe, sticky, stony, tartar, tricky, uneasy), ‏شائك (acarpous, barbed, prickly, spiked, spiky, spiny, sticky, thistly, thorny, touchy, tricky). (various references)

Bulgarian 

сложен (aggregate, complex, complicated, compound, convoluted, daedalian, elaborate, integrate, intricate, multiplex, perplexed, perplexing, sinuous, subtle, tangly, tricky), чепат (gnarled, gnarly, knaggy, nodose, snagged, snaggy), труден (arduous, awkward, complex, difficile, difficult, dodgy, formidable, heavy, laborious, lively, painful, perplexed, perplexing, pick-and-shovel, rocky, sore, spiny, stroppy, taxing, thorny, ticklish, tight, tough, tricky, troublesome, uphill, warm), с възли, с подути стави, загрубял (coarsened, gnarled, rough, weather beaten, weather-worn), заплетен (anfractuous, complex, convoluted, inextricable, intricate, involute, involved, labyrinthine, mazy, sinuous, tangly, tortuous), жилест (gristly, lean, nervous, ropy, sinewy, venose, venous). (various references)

Chinese 

多节, 傷腦筋 (bothersome, troublesome). (various references)

Czech

zauzlený, ožehavý (awkward, burning, delicate, thorny). (various references)

Danish

knudret (nodose, nodular), nodøs (nodose, nodular). (various references)

Dutch

nodosus (nodose, nodular), geknobbeld (nodose, nodular). (various references)

Farsi 

گره دار (Burly), غامض (Abstruse, Problematic, Unintelligible). (various references)

Finnish

kyhmyinen (bumpy, nodular), kiperä (complicated, sticky, tricky), vaikea (difficult, hard, serious, severe, tough, tricky), ryhmyinen (knobby), oksainen (branchy). (various references)

French

noueux (knobby). (various references)

German

knotig (bulbous, gnarled, knotted, nodular, tubercular). (various references)

Greek 

ροζιάρικός, ροζιάρικοσ, γεμάτοσ κόμπουσ, γεμάτος ρόζους, μπερδεμένοσ (complicated, confused), οζώδησ (gnarled, gnarly, knobbed, knobby, nodal, snaggy), δύσκολοσ (difficult, hard, labored, laboured, trying), δυσεπίλυτος. (various references)

Hebrew 

מסובך (complex, complicated, intricate, involved, sophisticated, tangled, twisted), קשרי (nodal, nodular). (various references)

Hungarian

csomós (bunchy, gnarled, gnarly, kinky, knaggy, lumpy, nodular, nodulose, scraggy, snagged), bütykös (gnarled, knobby, knobly, nodulous, scraggly, scraggy, snagged, snaggy, tuberous), bonyolult (complex, complicated, difficult, elaborate, inextricable, intricate, involute, involved, mazy, problematic, thorny, tricky). (various references)

Indonesian

kusut (disordered, tousled, tously), ruwet (complex, intricate), rumit (complicated, elaborate, intricate), bermata. (various references)

Italian

nodoso (Cloggy, gnarled, knobbly, knobby, nodose, nodular). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

節榑立つ (to be knotty or gnarled), 節榑 (knotty wood or tree). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ふしくれだつ (to be knotty or gnarled), ふしくれ (knotty wood or tree). (various references)

Manx

uddanagh (knobby, lumpy, nodal, nodose), scarragh, crontagh, cayragh. (various references)

Pig Latin

ottyknay.(various references)

Portuguese

nodoso (gnarled, gnarly, knaggy, knobby, knotted, nodose), intrincado (fussy, perplexed, puzzling), difícil (arduous, cornered, cramped, difficile, difficult, fussy, go-ahead, hard, inconvenient, kid-glove, labored, laboured, nice, painful, pernickety, ponderous, puzzling, rugged, thankless, thorny, ticklish, tough, tricky, trying, well-made), complicado (abstract, complex, complicated, crab, crabbed, elaborate, intricate, knotted, many-sided, puzzling, tricky), com nós (knobby), baralhado (involved, topsy-turvy). (various references)

Romanian

plin de noduri, noduros (gnarled, gnarly, knaggy, knarred, knobbed, knobbly, knobby, nodose, nodous, skinny), cu noduri (knobbed, nodose, nodous), cioturos (gnarled, knaggy, knarred, knobbly, knobby, knotted). (various references)

Russian 

узловатый (knarred, knarry, knobby, knotted, nodose, nodular, nodulose, nodulous, nubbly), запутанный;сучковатый, запутанный (anfractuous, complected, complicated, crinkum-crankum, Daedalian, embroiled, entangled, implex, inextricable, involved, labyrinthine, mazy, perplexed, tangly). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

kvrgav (callous, gnarled, knaggy, snaggy, tubercular, tuberous), zamršen (complicated, knotted, perplexed, tangly). (various references)

Spanish

nudoso (gnarled, knurled, nodose, nubbly, snaggy). (various references)

Swedish

kvistig (gnarled, gnarly, knaggy, thorny), knölig (bumpy, bunchy, knobbly, knobby, knotted, nodular, nodulated, nodulating). (various references)

Thai

ยุ่งยาก. (various references)

Turkish

karışık (adulterated, blended, calico, chequered, combined, complicated, composite, compound, confused, deep, disconcerted, disordered, disorderly, disorganized, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hybrid, inexplicit, inextricable, intricate, involute, involved, kinky, knotted, mazy, medley, miscellaneous, mixed, motley, obscure, out of square, promiscuous, turbid, unclassified, unsized, woolly, wooly), zor (arduous, baffling, constraint, crucial, cruel, difficult, exacting, force, formidable, hairy, hard, inconvenient, main, mean, might, rough, sticky, stiff, strain, tight, trickish, uneasy), düğümlü (grumous, knotted, nodose, nodular), budaklı (gnarled, knaggy, knobby, knotted, snagged, snaggy), boğumlu (articulated, gnarled, nodose, nodular, sesamoid, tubercular, tuberculous), çetrefilli (complicated, crucial, knotted, thorny). (various references)

Ukrainian

вузлуватий (gnarled, knotted, nodose, nodular, nodulose, nubbly), заплутаний (complex, complicated, entangled, implicate, inextricable, intricate, involved, knotted, mazy, muzzy, perplexed, tangled, wandered). (various references)

Vietnamese 

khó khăn; nan giải, khó giải thích. (various references)

Welsh

clymog (entangled). (various references)

Misspellings

"Knotty" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Crotty, knatty, knote, Knutt, kooty, kotty, netty, noteth, notey, Notta, notty, noty, Notyp, nowty. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: knot, tony.

-3 letters: not, ton, tot, toy, yok, yon.

-4 letters: no, on, oy, to, yo.

+2 letters: knottily.

+3 letters: keybutton.

+4 letters: keybuttons.

+5 letters: cytokinetic, thankworthy.