Crossword Dictionary
entangled
adjective
If something is entangled in something such as a rope, wire, or net, it is caught in it very firmly.
If you become entangled in problems or difficulties, you become involved in problems or difficulties from which it is hard to escape.
synonyms
intertwine, entwine, tangle, intertwist, twist, ravel, snarl, knot, coil, mat, jumble, muddle, catch, capture, enmesh, ensnarl
examples:
‘His personal life gets entangled with his inquiries.’
‘Radio control was substituted for the umbilical cord cable which could become entangled.’
‘And they soon become entangled for the night!’
‘Until they do, the interface of the two systems will become more entangled.’
TANGLE
tangle, taut, ensnarl, tangled, tangles, entangle, tangling, tawt - v
to bring together in intricate confusion
Synonyms
coil, labyrinth, mess, morass, skein, snarl, complication, entanglement, jam, jungle, mass, mat, maze, mesh, mix up, muddle
Examples
We employed a lawyer to straighten our legal tangle.
The legal tangle was never really unravelled.
A tangle of wires is all that remains of the computer and phone systems.
Etymology
mid-14c., nasalized variant of tagilen "to involve in a difficult situation, entangle," from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Swedish taggla "to disorder," Old Norse þongull "seaweed"), from Proto-Germanic *thangul- (source also of Frisian tung, Dutch tang, German Tang "seaweed"); thus the original sense of the root evidently was "seaweed" as something that entangles (itself, or oars, or fishes, or nets). "The development of such a verb from a noun of limited use like tangle 1 is somewhat remarkable, and needs confirmation" [Century Dictionary]. In reference to material things, from c. 1500. Meaning "to fight with" is American English, first recorded 1928. Related: Tangled; tangling. Tanglefoot (1859) was Western American English slang for "strong whiskey."