tangled; tangling
ˈtaŋ-g(ə-)liŋ 
1
: to unite or knit together in intricate confusion
2
: to involve so as to hamper, obstruct, or embarrass
3
: to seize and hold in or as if in a snare : entrap
: a large seaweed
Synonyms
Verb
Noun (2)
Examples of tangle in a Sentence
Verb
This fishing line tangles easily.
was at last tangled in the web of lies that he had told to everyone
Recent Examples on the Web
Rebekah Riess, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
Scientists say she got tangled up in fishing gear from Maine.
—CBS News, 5 Apr. 2024
Monk was trying to contest a driving layup attempt by Luka Doncic when their legs got tangled up.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 30 Mar. 2024
Shohei Ohtani, the most famous baseball player in the world, got tangled up in a multimillion-dollar sports-betting scandal involving his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
—Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024
All of my charging cables look the same, get tangled up with each other, and magnet onto each other's ends.
—Lauren Mazzo, Travel + Leisure, 24 Mar. 2024
The cord can also be wrapped around the device in a neat storage design to avoid it getting tangled.
—Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Mar. 2024
Swift upright — unlike some of the previous cover art — but tangled up in her own arms.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 3 Mar. 2024
Robinson was called for a defensive foul on the play after the two got tangled up as Brown worked to gain position on a post-up.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2024
Sophia Panych, Allure, 2 Apr. 2024
Hollywood places a naturally high premium on narrative coherence, whereas Herbert’s text—with its abstruse tangle of names and concepts, its intricate layering of conscious and subconscious perspectives—demands otherworldly leaps of imagination.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024
Muhly’s music turned the stage into a bustling four-way intersection, and the Hub players rose to its challenging expressionistic palette — a virtuosic tangle here, a nostalgic sweet nothing there.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The city’s road network tangles and sprawls for 8,135 lane-miles.
—Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Mar. 2024
The patient may undergo a PET scan, an M.R.I. or a spinal tap — tests that detect the presence of two proteins in the brain, amyloid plaques and tau tangles, both associated with Alzheimer’s.
—Paula Span, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2024
Who wants to come home at night to a tangle of sheets and pillows on the floor?
—Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2024
In so doing, the therapy reduced the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles—hallmark features of Alzheimer’s—in the brains of mice engineered to mimic the condition.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Feb. 2024
Now, many are struggling to stay afloat, with layoffs and legal tangles mounting.
—Subrat Patnaik, Bloomberg.com, 22 Feb. 2024
Verb
Of the whales examined, about 40% were because whales were struck by ships or got tangled in ropes or nets in the water.
—Rebekah Riess, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
Scientists say she got tangled up in fishing gear from Maine.
—CBS News, 5 Apr. 2024
Monk was trying to contest a driving layup attempt by Luka Doncic when their legs got tangled up.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 30 Mar. 2024
Shohei Ohtani, the most famous baseball player in the world, got tangled up in a multimillion-dollar sports-betting scandal involving his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
—Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024
All of my charging cables look the same, get tangled up with each other, and magnet onto each other's ends.
—Lauren Mazzo, Travel + Leisure, 24 Mar. 2024
The cord can also be wrapped around the device in a neat storage design to avoid it getting tangled.
—Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Mar. 2024
Swift upright — unlike some of the previous cover art — but tangled up in her own arms.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 3 Mar. 2024
Robinson was called for a defensive foul on the play after the two got tangled up as Brown worked to gain position on a post-up.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2024
Noun
Because the cuticle is no longer lying flat, your hair looks dull, tangles more easily, and becomes trickier to style.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 2 Apr. 2024
Hollywood places a naturally high premium on narrative coherence, whereas Herbert’s text—with its abstruse tangle of names and concepts, its intricate layering of conscious and subconscious perspectives—demands otherworldly leaps of imagination.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024
Muhly’s music turned the stage into a bustling four-way intersection, and the Hub players rose to its challenging expressionistic palette — a virtuosic tangle here, a nostalgic sweet nothing there.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The city’s road network tangles and sprawls for 8,135 lane-miles.
—Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Mar. 2024
The patient may undergo a PET scan, an M.R.I. or a spinal tap — tests that detect the presence of two proteins in the brain, amyloid plaques and tau tangles, both associated with Alzheimer’s.
—Paula Span, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2024
Who wants to come home at night to a tangle of sheets and pillows on the floor?
—Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2024
In so doing, the therapy reduced the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles—hallmark features of Alzheimer’s—in the brains of mice engineered to mimic the condition.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Feb. 2024
Now, many are struggling to stay afloat, with layoffs and legal tangles mounting.
—Subrat Patnaik, Bloomberg.com, 22 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tangle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tangle
Cite this Entry
“Tangle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tangle. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tangle
2 of 2 noun1
: a tangled twisted mass (as of vines or hairs) confusedly woven together : snarl
2
: a complicated or confused state or condition
Medical Definition
tangle
noun
tan·gle
ˈtaŋ-gəl
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