Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective knotty differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of knotty are complex, complicated, intricate, and involved. While all these words mean "having confusingly interrelated parts," knotty suggests complication and entanglement that make solution or understanding improbable.

knotty ethical questions

When can complex be used instead of knotty?

The meanings of complex and knotty largely overlap; however, complex suggests the unavoidable result of a necessary combining and does not imply a fault or failure.

a complex recipe

When would complicated be a good substitute for knotty?

While the synonyms complicated and knotty are close in meaning, complicated applies to what offers great difficulty in understanding, solving, or explaining.

complicated legal procedures

When could intricate be used to replace knotty?

The words intricate and knotty are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, intricate suggests such interlacing of parts as to make it nearly impossible to follow or grasp them separately.

an intricate web of deceit

When is involved a more appropriate choice than knotty?

The words involved and knotty can be used in similar contexts, but involved implies extreme complication and often disorder.

a rambling, involved explanation

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of knotty Erupcja, a knotty romance set in Poland, and Romain Gavras’s Sacrifice, co-starring John Malkovich. Emma Alpern, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2025 The knotty matter of Peacemaker‘s place in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new, Justice League-less DCU was addressed even before Thursday’s Season 2 premiere actually got underway, through the use some editing sleight-of-hand. Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 21 Aug. 2025 In his crowded, knotty-pine office, several young men and women sit at desks filling out forms. Nicholas Pileggi, Curbed, 15 Aug. 2025 No sense in wasting your time on flailing around to solve a knotty problem. Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for knotty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knotty
Adjective
  • The intricate, musical prowess and creative freedom within the Wood Brothers is apparent on their latest album, Puff of Smoke.
    Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 26 Oct. 2025
  • Chef Kwang Uh opened the restaurant’s first iteration in 2015 in Hollywood, serving intricate grain bowls and pastas at low prices for three years.
    Jocelyn Silver, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • One of the world’s most persistent waste problems, plastics are durable and difficult to recycle.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 27 Oct. 2025
  • But grass is difficult to digest for the mammal.
    Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Their double life soon gets complicated when a rival boy band harboring a sinister secret begins stealing their fans.
    Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
  • In many ways, that has made keeping up with news about King Charles’ illness much more complicated.
    Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Whether or not Takaichi's administration is as tough on immigration issues as her campaign rhetoric suggests, some observers warn that failing to actively invest in and integrate foreign nationals into society will have lasting harm on Asia’s second-largest economy.
    Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Without a consolidation of that vote in the final stretch, Mamdani appears tough to beat.
    New York Times, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • These are common but complicate long-term planning for federal agencies.
    Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Despite differing views on a variety of security issues, the group, like Gilpatric’s, reached a clear consensus: nuclear proliferation by any additional country would diminish U.S. power, complicate strategic planning, and increase the likelihood of nuclear use, accidents, and disasters.
    MARIANO-FLORENTINO CUÉLLAR, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • This allows users to benefit from AI acceleration without exposing sensitive information.
    Ni Tao, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Teens will need to allow their parents access and provide them with a time-sensitive QR code to complete activation.
    Alex Vance, Parents, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • When Singh’s successor decided to make the fort taller, its shadow fell on the hermit’s home, consequently bringing destruction to the complex and surrounding towns.
    Sophie Friedman, AFAR Media, 22 Oct. 2025
  • The culmination of three painstaking years of development and over 40,000 hours of work, this striking black-and-white automotive tribute is touted as the most complex, most technically ambitious Phantom Private Collection model ever.
    Howard Walker, Robb Report, 22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • So tangled are the tricks and plot lines that the story’s characters are little more than sketches.
    Kirk Honeycutt, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2025
  • What led to that point was a messy, tangled web of loans that Zions said were surreptitiously subordinated by the borrowers all while the collateral was effectively eliminated.
    Leslie Picker, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knotty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knotty. Accessed 27 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on knotty

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!