Tangle

Definition: Tangle

Tangle

Noun

1. A twisted and tangled mass that is highly interwoven; "they carved their way through the tangle of vines".

2. Something jumbled or confused; "a tangle of government regulations".

Verb

1. Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action; "They were swept up by the events"; "don't drag me into this business".

2. Tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story".

3. Disarrange or rumple; dishevel; "The strong wind tousled my hair".

4. Twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; "The child entangled the cord".

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

Date "tangle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references)

Synonyms: Tangle

Arrangement

Turn topsy-turvy; (invert); bedevil; complicate, involve, perplex, confound; imbrangle, embrangle, tangle, entangle, ravel, tousle, towzle, dishevel, ruffle; rumple; (fold).

Crossing

Mat, plait, plat, braid, felt, twill; tangle, entangle, ravel; net, knot; dishevel, raddle.

Crosswords: Tangle

Make a wish, and see yourself on stage, inside out. A tangle of garlands in your hair (Velvet Goldmine; writing credit: James Lyons; Todd Haynes)

Numba 1 dont tangle and twist it (Still Fly; performing artist: Big Tymers)

Taxi Tangle (1931)

Vitaphone No. 1029: A Tenement Tangle (1930)

Skinny's Love Tangle (1917)

A Bath House Tangle (1917)

The Great Pearl Tangle (1916)

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

Books

• A Home of Another Kind: One Chicago Orphanage and the Tangle of Child Welfare (reference)

• A Tangle of Roots (reference)

• Bath Tangle (reference)

• Into the Tangle of Friendship : A Memoir of the Things That Matter (reference)

• Tangle Fairies (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Tangle (reference)

• The World Is in a Tangle (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech

• RECOTON T-59BK Tangle Stop (reference)

• SOUTHWESTERN BELL S60152 Handset Cord Tangle Stop (reference)

  (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)

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

Tangle bar. In: "Report on the Construction and Outfit of the United States Fish Commission Steamer ALBATROSS", by Lieutenant-Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part XI. Report of the Commissioner for 1883. Plate L, p. 111. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.

Sunset at Tangle Lakes, Denali Highway, Alaska. Credit: James Thomson.

Sunset along Tangle Lakes, Denali Highway,Alaska. Credit: James Thomson.

Rafts at Round Tangle Lake, Delta NWSR, Alaska. Credit: Edward Bovy.

I thought Mexico was the big tangle. Credit: Library of Congress.

A possible tangle ahead. Credit: Library of Congress.

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

The preacher and Uncle John and Ruthie were in a tangle on the load

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

AVMs are a tangle of defective blood vessels and capillaries within the brain that have thin walls and can therefore rupture. (references)

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, looked at tangle formation in various stages of aging and AD (Uboga et al., 2000). Results indicated that fibrillar tangles, corresponding to what are generally understood to be classical tangles, increased exponentially with age and severity of AD, whereas diffuse tangles seemed to represent an earlier form of tangles. (references)

Economic History

South Africa

South Africa's reputation has also suffered due to its proximity to the tangle of conflicts that have engulfed its northern neighbors. (references)

South Africa

Although the tangle of conflict that has engulfed South Africa's neighbors in and around the central African sub-region may have tarnished the region's image, the extent of capital investment expected over the next several years is a clear indication of the region's largely untapped economic potential. (references)

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

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "tangle": be in a tangle ♦ bladder tangle ♦ Blue tangle ♦ get in a tangle ♦ get into a tangle ♦ in a tangle ♦ neurofibrillary tangle ♦ sea tangle ♦ tangle orchid ♦ Tangle picker ♦ tangle up ♦ tangle with. Additional references.

Beginning with "tangle": tangle-bearing, tangle-free, tangle-fringed, tangle-scented, tangle-web.

Ending with "tangle": sea-tangle, spaghetti-tangle, wild-tangle.

Afrikaans

chaos (chaos), baaierd (chaos). (various references)

Albanian

rrëmujë (alarm, bustle, clutter, disarray, disorder, disturbance, dust, farrago, hash, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, jumble, litter, mess, mix up, moil, muss, pandemonium, pell mell, pie, pother, roistering, snafu, topsy turvy, topsy-turvydom, tumble, upheaval, upset, welter), lëmsh (ball, clew, clot, jam, jumbal, jumble, mass, mix, mix up, pell mell, pellet, puff, ruck, welter, winding), koklavitje (complication), koklavit (lump together). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كتلة خيطان متشابكة, ‏نزاع (contention, contest, controversy, difference, disagreement, discord, discordance, disputation, dispute, division, duel, embroilment, fray, odds, quarrel, question, row, spar, squall, strife, struggle, variance, wont), ‏ورط (commit, embarrass, embroil, fix, implicate, involve, wind), ‏حيرة (bewilderment, confusion, discomfiture, disconcertion, dismay, distraction, embarrassment, hesitance, hesitancy, indecision, irresolution, maze, mystification, nonplus, perplexedly, perplexity, puzzle, puzzlement), ‏تلوى (crank, crook, meander, ramble, roll, screw, squirm, twist, wriggle, writhe), ‏تحابك (interweave), ‏تعقد الشعر, ‏تعقد (complexity, complicate, complication, entanglement, kink, snarl), ‏تشوش (addle, become confused, confusion, fog, fogginess, incoherence, mix up, morass, muddling, perplexity, perturbation, pother, promiscuity, ramp, ravel), ‏تشابك الأغصان, ‏تشابك (engage, entanglement, foul, interlock, ravel, snarl, texture, web), ‏عقدة (clove, complex, ganglion, hitch, kink, knob, knurl, loop, nub, umbo), ‏خبل (amentia, befuddle, besot, craze, dementia, derange, distract, fluster, frenzy, infatuate, insanity, lunacy, mad, madden, madness, spare, stagger, stultify, stun, stupefaction, stupefy, unbalance), ‏إرتباك (awkwardness, bewilderment, confusion, constraint, disruption, distraction, embarrassment, foolishness, involvement, morass, mystification, nonplus, perplexity, pink, puzzle, puzzlement, quandary, self consciousness, shame, shyness, spot, uneasiness), ‏شابك (interlace, knit). (various references)

Bulgarian 

влизам в разпра, бъркотия (bungle, clutter, confusion, disarrangement, disturbance, dust, farrago, fuss, hash, havoc, huddle, hugger mugger, hurry-scurry, imbroglio, involution, involvement, jumble, jungle, maze, melee, mess, mess up, mishmash, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, patchwork, pell mell, razzle, razzle-dazzle, rout, salmagundi, skein, snafu, tumble, uproar, upset, welter), заплитам (embrangle, embroil, enlace, snarl), заплетено положение (entanglement), заплетено кълбо, забърквам (baffle, complicate, embroil, involve, mix up, muff, perplex, snarl up), объркано положение (skein), бърканица (jumble, mingle-mangle), влизам в конфликт, усложнявам (complicate, elaborate, involve, perplex, snarl), сплитам (braid, intertwine, knit together, lace, mat, plait, twine, twist, wreathe), сплетеност, сплъстена коса (thatch), сплъстявам (mat), сбивам се (clash, pack), скарвам се (broil, fall out), вид морско водорасло (sea furbelow, whipcord). (various references)

Chinese 

纏 (annoy, coil, involve, to bother, wind around, wrap round), � �" (Entanglement, snarl, tangled, Tangling). (various references)

Czech

zmatek (anarchy, bewilderment, chaos, circus, clutter, confusion, disarray, disorder, disturbance, embroilment, fluster, hash, hodge-podge, jumble, maze, mess up, mix up, moil, muddle, Mull, nonplus, non-plus, pandemonium, perplexity, perturbation, puzzlement, shambles, stew, tempest, tumble, tumult, turbulence, turmoil, turnup, upset, welter), zauzlit, zaplést (embroil, entangle, entwine, implicate, involute, Ravel), zamotat (entangle, foul, snarl), motanice, blázinec (bedlam, booby hatch, circus, confusion, jumble, lunatic asylum, madhouse, nut house, pandemonium). (various references)

Danish

rod (chaos, confusion, disorder, root). (various references)

Dutch

warnet (labyrinth, maze), warboel (chaos), verwikkeling (plot). (various references)

Esperanto

kaoso (chaos), implikaĵo, ĥaoso (chaos). (various references)

Faeroese

ruðuleiki (chaos), fløkja (chaos). (various references)

Farsi 

گیرافتادن (Pin, Stick, Strand), گوریده کردن (Foul), گرفتارکردن (Enmesh, Entangle, Enwrap, Hook, Implicate, Incriminate, Involve), درهم پیچیدن (Intersubjective, Taut), درهم گیرانداختن , درهم وبرهم کردن (Disorganize, Muddle, Snafu). (various references)

Finnish

sotku (jumble, mess, muddle), selkkaus (clash, conflict, difficulty, trouble), ryteikkö, rettelö (difficulties, dispute, trouble). (various references)

French

chaos. (various references)

Frisian

tizeboel (chaos), disoarder (chaos). (various references)

German

verwirren (befog, befuddle, bewilder, confound, confuse, dazzle, disarrange, disorient, entangle, fluster, fuddle, jumble, muddle, muddle up, mystify, obfuscate, obscure, perplex, perturb, puzzle, Ravel, ruffle, ruffle up, tangle up, to confuse, to derange, to disarrange, to discombobulate, to disconcert, to dishevel, to disorient, to distract, to embarrass, to fluster, tousle, unsettle). (various references)

Greek 

μπλέξιμο (entanglement, involvement), εμπλέκω (enmesh, implicate, involve, snarl). (various references)

Hebrew 

ל�"סתבך (ball up, get involved, snarl), תסבוכת (complexity, complication, mix up, snarl), פלו� טר (snarl), פקעת (bulb, coil, hank, tuber). (various references)

Hungarian

gubanc (matting, ravel, screw-up, snag, snick). (various references)

Indonesian

mengacaukan (derange, disarrange, disconcert, disorganize, disrupt, embroil, entangle, ravel). (various references)

Italian

viluppo (chaos, confusion, entanglement, in a muddle, mat, mess), nodo (bond, Burl, crux, gnarl, heart, hitch, junction, kink, knob, knot, knurl, loop, node, tie), matassa (hank, skein), intrigo (cabal, intrigue, machination, scheme), intricare (confuse, perplex), ingarbugliarsi (Ravel, tie), imbroglio (cheat, entanglement, fix, flam, hanky panky, imbroglio, kid, maze, racket, scrape, swindle, swindling, victimisation, victimization, wangle), imbrogliare (cheat, cozen, diddle, do, embroil, entangle, entrap, fob, fool, garble, get confused, get entangled, get tangled, hocus, mix up, mystify, overreach, rook, sell, spoof, swindle, trick), groviglio (intricacy, mat), garbuglio (bewilderment, confusion, dishevelment, entanglement, snarl, twine), complicazione (complication, intricacy, Nodus, perplexity), complicarsi (complicate), arruffamento (ruffling), aggrovigliarsi, aggrovigliare (entangle, get entangled, snarl). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

縺れ (difficulties, entanglement, snag, snarl, trouble), マッハ数 (Mach number, Madeira, Madison, map, mapping, martini, material, materialism, materialist, materials handling, muffin), いかなる� �合でも (anumber of, bad, bitch, come, complication, crucial moment, difficulties, forbidden, in any case, innocent, lovable, many, must not do, no entry, not good, now, paltry, pathetic, piddling, pitiful, quarrel, reserved, servile, stubborn Kochi man, sweet, that's too bad, timid, to come, to grow timid, to orgasm, trouble, unable to be honest, well, whatever the case may be, wrong). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

マツリ , いざ�"ざ (complication, difficulties, quarrel, trouble), もつれ (difficulties, entanglement, snag, snarl, trouble). (various references)

Korean 

엉킴. (various references)

Malay

kekacauan (chaos). (various references)

Manx

fam (appendage), cur fud y cheilley (bemuse, confuse, derange, disarray, disorganization, disorganize, embarrass, jumble, litter, maze, perturb, puzzle, subvert; dislocation), cassey (change, curl, distort, flick, flounce, involve, pervert, screw, spin, squirm, swing, swirl, turn, turn over, twist, warp, whip-round, wrench, wring). (various references)

Papiamen

kaos (chaos), desòrden (ado, chaos, din, noise), bochincha (ado, chaos, din, noise), babel (ado, chaos, din, noise). (various references)

Pig Latin

angletay.(various references)

Portuguese

pôr em desordem (clutter, litter, rummage, shuffle, tousle, unsettle), entrelaçar (braid, enlace, entwine, fold, intercross, interlace, interlink, intertwine, intertwist, interweave, inweave, lattice, plait, plat, pleach, twine, weave), enredo (chicane, circumvention, design, embroilment, fable, fairytale, involvement, node, overreach, plot, scenario, snarl, story, web), enredar (circumvent, embrangle, embroil, enmesh, ensnare, entangle, implicate, intrigue, lime, mesh, rope, wind), enlear (perplex), emaranhar-se (ravel), emaranhar (embrangle, entangle, mat, ravel), emaranhamento (entanglement, matting, ravel, snarl), confusão de fios, complicar (complicate, knot, ravel, thicken), complicação (complicacy, difficulty, embroilment, intricacy, involution, involvement, perplexity, ravel), caos (chaos, smashup). (various references)

Romanian

încurcãturã (abashment, confusion, difficulty, encumbrance, entanglement, fix, hash, involution, involvement, loss, lost, mess, mire, mishmash, morass, perplexity, pretty kettle of fish, puzzle, scrape, stew, trouble, upset), încurca (complicate, confound, confuse, cumber, discomfit, embrangle, embroil, entangle, floor, foul, gravel, hamper, hash, hinder, intertangle, involve, jumble, maze, medley, muddle, nonplus, perplex, pile up, pose, put out, puzzle, restrain, shuffle, sputter, stump, trouble), încâlcire, încâlci (confound, entangle, intertangle, mat, muddle). (various references)

Russian 

спутанный клубок, конфликт (clash, conflict), запутывать (embrangle, embroil, entangle, foul up, perplex), беспорядок (bewilderment, box-up, chaos, clutter, confusion, disarray, disorder, disorganization, huddle, hugger mugger, litter, mess, messroom, misrule, mix, muss, pell mell, tumble, turbulence, turmoil, untidiness, upset), б (blank, canteen, gain, ill, market, marriage, of the coast, pole, refuse, scuffle, shave, struggle, unemployment, warrior), драга (creeper, drag, dredge). (various references)

Scottish

stamh (sea tangle, sea-tangle), ramasg (sea tangle), barbrag (tangle tops). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zaplet (clash, plot, ravel), zamrsiti (foul, foul up, mesh, mess up, muddle, ravel), upetljati (embroil, entangle, involve, mix up), morska trava (seaweed, tang). (various references)

Spanish

enredo (build up, do, embroilment, entanglement, hanky panky, involvement, jam, love affair, maze, mess, muddle, plot, Ravel), caos (chaos, snarl up). (various references)

Swedish

trassel (chaos, embroilment, entanglement, foul, mess up, Ravel, snarl, snarl up, trouble), trassla till (ball up, embroil, entangle, foul, gum up, perplex, Ravel), härva (hank, skein). (various references)

Thai

ทำให้ยุ่งเหยิง (clutter, hash, muddle, obfuscate, ravel), การทะเลาะเบาะแว้ง (run-in), ยุ่งเหยิง (foul, higgledy-piggledy, jumble, muddy, ravel, ruffled, sloppy), ความยุ่งเหยิง (clutter, hash, ravelment). (various references)

Turkish

karmakarixik hal (chaos), karıştırmak (add, admix, amalgamate, blend, churn, commingle, commix, complicate, concoct, confound, confuse, darken, diffuse, disarrange, disarray, discompose, disconcert, disorder, disorganize, disturb, embroil, entangle, ferret about, foul, foul up, hash, implicate, interfuse, interlace, interlard, intermingle, intermix, involve, inweave, jumble, jumble together, jumble up, knot, litter, make hay of smth., meld, mess, mess smth. about, mess up, mingle, mistake, mix, mix up, monkey around with, monkey with, muddle, muss, pick, poke, poke up, Ravel, ruffle, scramble, scramble together, scramble up, shuffle, snarl, stir, stir up, tamper with, tousle, trim, tumble, unsettle, weave), karışıklık (bedlam, bungle, cataclysm, chaos, clamor, clamour, clutter, commotion, complexity, complication, confusion, disarrangement, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disturbance, dogs dinner, embroilment, ferment, fermentation, fray, frenzy, fuss, fuss and kerfufle, grab bag, havoc, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hurly burly, imbroglio, indiscrimination, intricacy, involution, jungle, kerfufle, maziness, mess, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, perturbation, pie, pother, pretty kettle of fish, promiscuity, Ravel, riot, rough and tumble, ruckus, ruction, snafu, snarl, snarl up, stir, swirl, topsyturvy, topsyturvydom, tumble, turbidity, turbulence, unrest, upheaval, upset, wooliness, woolliness), kaos (chaos, pie), içinden çıkılmaz hale getirmek (becloud, cock up, complicate, make it worse), dolaştırmak (circulate, dash, embrangle, entangle, entwine, foul, foul up, hand on, intwine, kink, knot, Ravel, take for a walk, trot round, walk, walk about, walk around, walk out), dolaşıklık (entanglement, maziness, Ravel, tortuosity), dolaşık şey, düğüm (gradient, knot, loop, nodal, node, nodosity, nodule, tie, twist), arapsaçına çevirmek (cock up, snarl), arapsaçı (dogs dinner, elflock, skein, snarl, spaghetti, tangled skein, woolly hair). (various references)

Turkmen 

яumak (claw, skein). (various references)

Ukrainian

ускладнюватися (complicate), ускладнювати (complicate, decompound, embarrass, embrangle, entangle, mystify, perplex), сплутаний клубок, сплетіння (plexus, web), заплутуватися (be immersed in, intertwine, involve oneself in), заплутувати (ball up, complicate, embrangle, embroil, entangle, jack off, jerk off, muss, obscure, puzzle), плутанина (boggle, confusion, derangement, embroilment, hubbub, hurly burly, intricacy, involute, jumble, maze, mingle-mangle, mishmash, mix up, muddle, muss, patchwork, pell mell, pellmell, puddle, skein, snarl, snarl up, wooliness, woolliness). (various references)

Vietnamese 

trạng thái rối ren, trạng thái phức tạp, tình trạng rối rắm (embranglement, maziness), mớ lộn xộn tình trạng lộn xộn. (various references)

Welsh

dryswch (confusion, perplexity), drysu (baffle, be confused, bewilder, perplex). (various references)

chaos. (various references)

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

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

Derivations

Words beginning with "tangle": tangled, tanglement, tanglements, tangler, tanglers, tangles. (additional references)

Words ending with "tangle": disentangle, entangle, octangle, pentangle, rectangle, untangle. (additional references)

Words containing "tangle": disentangled, disentanglement, disentanglements, disentangles, entangled, entanglement, entanglements, entangler, entanglers, entangles, octangles, pentangles, rectangles, untangled, untangles. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Tangle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: atingle, Hangle, Nangle, Stangl, Tadgell, taggle, tagl, tange, tangile, tangyl, tawgle, tengel, tengile, tengle, tigle, tingel, tingile, tingler, tinglet, trangler, Tugnoli. (additional references)

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

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: gelant.

-1 letter: agent, aglet, angel, angle, glean, laten, leant.

-2 letters: ante, egal, elan, etna, gaen, gale, gane, gate, gelt, gent, geta, glen, gnat, lane, lang, late, lean, lent, neat, tael, tale, tang, teal, tela.

-3 letters: age, ale, alt, ane, ant, ate, eat, eng, eta, gae, gal, gan, gat, gel, gen, get, lag, lat, lea, leg.

+1 letter: atingle, elating, elegant, gantlet, gelants, gelatin, gellant, genital, languet, tangelo, tangled, tangler, tangles, twangle.

+2 letters: agential, alerting, alginate, altering, angulate, argental, atheling, bleating, cleating, delating, eggplant, elongate, entangle, exalting, galenite, gantlets, gantline, gantlope, gauntlet, gelatine, gelating, gelatins, gelation, gellants, genitals, gnatlike, gunmetal, integral, languets, latening, legatine, legating, legation, ligament, metaling, octangle, plangent, pleating, regental, relating, stealing, strangle, tangelos, tangible, tanglers, tanglier, teazling, tegminal, triangle, twangled, twangler, twangles, ungulate, untangle, valeting.