tangle

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

tan·gle [tangle tangles tangled tangling] noun, verb BrE [ˈtæŋɡl] NAmE [ˈtæŋɡl]
noun
1. a twisted mass of threads, hair, etc. that cannot be easily separated
•a tangle of branches
•Her hair was a mass of tangles.
2. a state of confusion or lack of order
•His financial affairs are in a tangle.
3. (informal)a disagreement or fight

Word Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘entangle, catch in a tangle’): probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish dialect taggla ‘disarrange’.

Example Bank:
•I had to pick my way through the tangle of bodies.
•She brushed the tangles out of her hair.
•She ran her fingers through the tangles in her hair.
•The legal tangle was never really unravelled.
•This string's in a tangle.
•a complex tangle of loyalties
•a confused tangle of voices
•a dense tangle of undergrowth
•her hair was a mass of tangles
•He got into a tangle pronouncing her name.
•These arrests have created a diplomatic tangle.
Derived: ↑tangle with somebody
 
verb transitive, intransitive ~ (sth) up
to twist sth into an untidy mass; to become twisted in this way
•She had tangled up the sheets on the bed as she lay tossing and turning.
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘entangle, catch in a tangle’): probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish dialect taggla ‘disarrange’.
 

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  snarl, maze, entangle, mat, tousle, dishevel, ravel, knot, embroil, sweep, sweep up, drag, drag in
• Từ trái nghĩa / Antonyms:
  disentangle, unsnarl, straighten out, unravel, unknot, unscramble, untangle, unpick, ravel, ravel out