"tangled" meaning in English

See tangled in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav Forms: more tangled [comparative], most tangled [superlative]
Rhymes: -æŋɡəld Head templates: {{en-adj}} tangled (comparative more tangled, superlative most tangled)
  1. Mixed up, interlaced. Translations (wisted together untidily; matted): takamingomingo (Māori), pōwhīwhiwhi (Māori), tārorerore (Māori), whīwhiwhi (Māori)
    Sense id: en-tangled-en-adj-AdnV6ogg Categories (other): English terms with collocations, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Māori translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 89 5 6 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 77 13 10 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 90 5 4 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 92 5 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Māori translations: 75 14 12 Disambiguation of 'wisted together untidily; matted': 84 16
  2. (by extension) Intricate. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-tangled-en-adj-pfWbe~sF
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: tangled nest spider, tangled web, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive

Verb

IPA: /ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav
Rhymes: -æŋɡəld Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} tangled
  1. simple past and past participle of tangle Tags: form-of, participle, past Form of: tangle
    Sense id: en-tangled-en-verb-XKmA66~W
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tangled nest spider"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tangled web"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tangled",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tangled",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tangled (comparative more tangled, superlative most tangled)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 5 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 13 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 5 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 5 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 14 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Māori translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              7
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            "collocation"
          ],
          "text": "tangled knot",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              80,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1789, William Blake, “A Dream”, in Songs of Innocence:",
          "text": "Troubled, 'wilder'd, and forlorn, / Dark, benighted, travel-worn, / Over many a tangled spray, / All heart-broke I heard her say",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              87,
              94
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1919, Henry Head, “Paris. April, 1916”, in Destroyers and Other Verses:",
          "text": "That like a mighty river onward streams / In multitudinous channels ruthlessly, / Past tangled isles and barriers of sand",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Mixed up, interlaced."
      ],
      "id": "en-tangled-en-adj-AdnV6ogg",
      "links": [
        [
          "Mixed up",
          "mixed up"
        ],
        [
          "interlaced",
          "interlaced"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "84 16",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
          "word": "takamingomingo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "84 16",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
          "word": "pōwhīwhiwhi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "84 16",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
          "word": "tārorerore"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "84 16",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
          "word": "whīwhiwhi"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Intricate."
      ],
      "id": "en-tangled-en-adj-pfWbe~sF",
      "links": [
        [
          "Intricate",
          "intricate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Intricate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/81/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/81/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æŋɡəld"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tangled"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "tangled",
      "name": "head"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "tangle"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "simple past and past participle of tangle"
      ],
      "id": "en-tangled-en-verb-XKmA66~W",
      "links": [
        [
          "tangle",
          "tangle#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/81/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æŋɡəld"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tangled"
}
{
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    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English verb forms",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/æŋɡəld",
    "Rhymes:English/æŋɡəld/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Māori translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "tangled nest spider"
    },
    {
      "word": "tangled web"
    },
    {
      "word": "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"
    },
    {
      "word": "what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tangled",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tangled",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tangled (comparative more tangled, superlative most tangled)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
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            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            "collocation"
          ],
          "text": "tangled knot",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              80,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1789, William Blake, “A Dream”, in Songs of Innocence:",
          "text": "Troubled, 'wilder'd, and forlorn, / Dark, benighted, travel-worn, / Over many a tangled spray, / All heart-broke I heard her say",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              87,
              94
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1919, Henry Head, “Paris. April, 1916”, in Destroyers and Other Verses:",
          "text": "That like a mighty river onward streams / In multitudinous channels ruthlessly, / Past tangled isles and barriers of sand",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Mixed up, interlaced."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Mixed up",
          "mixed up"
        ],
        [
          "interlaced",
          "interlaced"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Intricate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Intricate",
          "intricate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Intricate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/81/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Persent101-tangled.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æŋɡəld"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
      "word": "takamingomingo"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
      "word": "pōwhīwhiwhi"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
      "word": "tārorerore"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "wisted together untidily; matted",
      "word": "whīwhiwhi"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tangled"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English verb forms",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/æŋɡəld",
    "Rhymes:English/æŋɡəld/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Māori translations"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "tangled",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "tangle"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "simple past and past participle of tangle"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tangle",
          "tangle#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "participle",
        "past"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtæŋ.ɡəld/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tangled.wav",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æŋɡəld"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tangled"
}

Download raw JSONL data for tangled meaning in English (3.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.