gnarled

adjective

ˈnär(-ə)ld 

1

: full of knots or gnarls : knotty

gnarled hands

gnarled olive trees

2

: crabbed in disposition, aspect, or character

a gnarled old veteran

Examples of gnarled in a Sentence

the old man's gnarled fingers

Recent Examples on the Web

Naturally, there is a hand: a gnarled, green claw that emerges from the depths of the closet, like a ghost of the past reaching into the present. —Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2023

Short, buff grasses grew in the valley along with a few gnarled trees. —Kent Russell, Harper's Magazine, 11 May 2022

End, with its return to heavier rock pastures after The Wilderness’ more gnarled, electronic compositions, lives up to the anticipation. —Patrick Lyons, Spin, 15 Sep. 2023

That larger illiberal vision for Europe is no longer just a fantasy lurking in the demagoguery of fringe populists or the gnarled resentment of politicians like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. —Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 21 July 2023

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion after a hard hit in a Thursday night game against Cincinnati on Sept. 29 — probably his second head trauma in a four-day span — and his gnarled hands were frozen in an unnatural and deeply troubling way. —Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2022

Every frame feels heavy with it: Douglass, face clenched, walks alone through an autumn forest back home in the United States, under gnarled branches where lynching ropes had hung. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 June 2023

The gnarled branches of a 1,600-year-old juniper tree form a fire-breathing dragon. —Hikari Hida, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2023

There’s almost no cover too thick or too gnarled to fish effectively with a weedless frog. —Steve Price, Field & Stream, 7 June 2023

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Word History

Etymology

probably alteration of knurled

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1