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
Thomas Zurbuchen, Quanta Magazine, 29 Apr. 2024
Here's how solar flares typically occur: The Sun's powerful magnetic fields get twisted and tangled up due to the Sun's differential rotation and the movement of solar plasma.
—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 24 Apr. 2024
Whether or not Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got pushed or got his feet tangled up was irrelevant.
—Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2024
This is a book that’s tangled up in truth, tragedy, destiny and who gets to make choices for whom.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 19 Apr. 2024
Parts of the ropes were tangled in trees, looped around branches and underwater — all sorts of things that added to the challenge of following the ropes and bringing the case attached to them back to land.
—Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 16 Apr. 2024
Monk was trying to contest a driving layup attempt by Doncic when their legs got tangled up.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 30 Mar. 2024
Instead of a tidy family tree with straight lines added for each new generation, the birth of a new species is much more tangled in reality.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2024
Before a Spurs baseline out-of-bounds play, the two got tangled up and Wembanyama fell.
—Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 14 Apr. 2024
Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2024
Normal people have been forced to attend to this stuff — baroque tangles of licensing and distribution rights — just to be consumers.
—T.m. Brown, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024
At the hospital he was diagnosed with a ruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a tangle of blood vessels that connects arteries and veins in the brain, according to Mayo Clinic.
—Wendy Grossman Kantor, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024
Two bodies have been recovered and four are believed trapped underwater in the tangle of steel and concrete.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
They are trapped in the tangle of steel and concrete underwater, authorities believe.
—Dalia Faheid, CNN, 31 Mar. 2024
An aristocrat by Sorolla with proud, obsidian eyes in somber lace—leaning towards a tangle of scarlet roses.
—Sophie Yun Mancini, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Mar. 2024
In the United States, colonial homesteaders often created hedges with Osage orange, a hardy native tree with a tangle of branches and spiky thorns.
—Kate Morgan, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024
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
Verb
In 1988, Eugene Parker, a University of Chicago astrophysicist, argued that convection at the solar surface — those churning cells — could tangle magnetic fields that stretched into the corona, thereby building up and storing magnetic energy in the solar atmosphere.
—Thomas Zurbuchen, Quanta Magazine, 29 Apr. 2024
Here's how solar flares typically occur: The Sun's powerful magnetic fields get twisted and tangled up due to the Sun's differential rotation and the movement of solar plasma.
—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 24 Apr. 2024
Whether or not Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got pushed or got his feet tangled up was irrelevant.
—Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2024
This is a book that’s tangled up in truth, tragedy, destiny and who gets to make choices for whom.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 19 Apr. 2024
Parts of the ropes were tangled in trees, looped around branches and underwater — all sorts of things that added to the challenge of following the ropes and bringing the case attached to them back to land.
—Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 16 Apr. 2024
Monk was trying to contest a driving layup attempt by Doncic when their legs got tangled up.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 30 Mar. 2024
Instead of a tidy family tree with straight lines added for each new generation, the birth of a new species is much more tangled in reality.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2024
Before a Spurs baseline out-of-bounds play, the two got tangled up and Wembanyama fell.
—Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 14 Apr. 2024
Noun
In Saenz’s old bedroom, Fernandez lay in a tangle of sheets on a bare mattress, wearing only an unbuttoned pair of blue shorts.
—Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2024
Normal people have been forced to attend to this stuff — baroque tangles of licensing and distribution rights — just to be consumers.
—T.m. Brown, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024
At the hospital he was diagnosed with a ruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a tangle of blood vessels that connects arteries and veins in the brain, according to Mayo Clinic.
—Wendy Grossman Kantor, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024
Two bodies have been recovered and four are believed trapped underwater in the tangle of steel and concrete.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
They are trapped in the tangle of steel and concrete underwater, authorities believe.
—Dalia Faheid, CNN, 31 Mar. 2024
An aristocrat by Sorolla with proud, obsidian eyes in somber lace—leaning towards a tangle of scarlet roses.
—Sophie Yun Mancini, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Mar. 2024
In the United States, colonial homesteaders often created hedges with Osage orange, a hardy native tree with a tangle of branches and spiky thorns.
—Kate Morgan, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024
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
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 4 May. 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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