Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb tangle

4 senses of tangle

Sense 1
embroil, tangle, sweep, sweep up, drag, drag in -- (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")
       => involve -- (engage as a participant; "Don't involve me in your family affairs!")

Sense 2
ravel, tangle, knot -- (tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story")
       => intertwine, twine, entwine, enlace, interlace, lace -- (spin,wind, or twist together; "intertwine the ribbons"; "Twine the threads into a rope"; "intertwined hearts")

Sense 3
tousle, dishevel, tangle -- (disarrange or rumple; dishevel; "The strong wind tousled my hair")
       => disarrange -- (destroy the arrangement or order of; "My son disarranged the papers on my desk")

Sense 4
entangle, tangle, mat, snarl -- (twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; "The child entangled the cord")
       => twist, twine, distort -- (form into a spiral shape; "The cord is all twisted")

Antonyms of adj tangled

2 senses of tangled

Sense 1
tangled (vs. untangled) -- (in a confused mass; "pushed back her tangled hair"; "the tangled ropes")

untangled (vs. tangled) -- (not tangled)
        => disentangled, loosened, unsnarled -- (straightened out)

Sense 2
Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous -- (highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months")

INDIRECT (VIA complex) -> simple -- (having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved; "a simple problem"; "simple mechanisms"; "a simple design"; "a simple substance")

Similarity of adj tangled

2 senses of tangled

Sense 1
tangled (vs. untangled) -- (in a confused mass; "pushed back her tangled hair"; "the tangled ropes")
       => afoul (postnominal), foul, fouled -- (especially of a ship's lines etc; "with its sails afoul"; "a foul anchor")
       => enmeshed, intermeshed -- (caught as if in a mesh; "enmeshed in financial difficulties")
       => entangled -- (twisted together in a tangled mass; "toiled through entangled growths of mesquite")
       => knotty, snarled, snarly -- (tangled in knots or snarls; "a mass of knotted string"; "snarled thread")
       => matted -- (tangled in a dense mass; "tried to push through the matted undergrowth")
       => rootbound -- (having the roots matted or densely tangled; "shaggy untended lawns of old trees and rootbound scented flowers and shrubs"- William Faulkner)
       => thrown, thrown and twisted -- (twisted together; as of filaments spun into a thread; "thrown silk is raw silk that has been twisted and doubled into yarn")

Sense 2
Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous -- (highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months")
       => complex (vs. simple) -- (complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts; "a complex set of variations based on a simple folk melody"; "a complex mass of diverse laws and customs")