"tied in knots" meaning in English

See tied in knots in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more tied in knots [comparative], most tied in knots [superlative]
Head templates: {{en-adj}} tied in knots (comparative more tied in knots, superlative most tied in knots)
  1. (idiomatic) In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: tied up in knots Related terms: tie in knots, tie oneself in knots
    Sense id: en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-fcO-Dpua Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 74 26 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 82 18 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 91 9
  2. (idiomatic) Worried, anxious, upset. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-dwOjPNUl

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tied in knots (comparative more tied in knots, superlative most tied in knots)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "82 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 July, Dan Tynan, “30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet”, in PC World, volume 23, number 7, page 79:",
          "text": "Are you tied up in knots trying to unravel dozens of mobile phone plans? WireFly […] can untangle the mess. Just type in your zip code to search by carrier, phone, or plan.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 June 8, Joe Vardon, “NBA Finals Game 3: A coronation for Nikola Jokić and comeback for Jamal Murray”, in The Athletic:",
          "text": "[Nikola] Jokić is his own story and because he is so big and so good and so versatile, the Heat are tied in knots trying to figure out how to slow him down.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
      ],
      "id": "en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-fcO-Dpua",
      "links": [
        [
          "confusion",
          "confusion"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "in a bind",
          "in a bind"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "78 22",
          "word": "tie in knots"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "78 22",
          "word": "tie oneself in knots"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "78 22",
          "word": "tied up in knots"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 August 28, Hope Donahue, “Nip and tuck and nip again”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "There is no misery like the misery of being trapped in your own brain. The more I think about my problems, the more tied up in knots I become. I do not want to be alone, or pretend that I am not lonely. I don't want to pretend at all.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Worried, anxious, upset."
      ],
      "id": "en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-dwOjPNUl",
      "links": [
        [
          "Worried",
          "worried"
        ],
        [
          "anxious",
          "anxious"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Worried, anxious, upset."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tied in knots"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tied in knots (comparative more tied in knots, superlative most tied in knots)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "tie in knots"
    },
    {
      "word": "tie oneself in knots"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005 July, Dan Tynan, “30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet”, in PC World, volume 23, number 7, page 79:",
          "text": "Are you tied up in knots trying to unravel dozens of mobile phone plans? WireFly […] can untangle the mess. Just type in your zip code to search by carrier, phone, or plan.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 June 8, Joe Vardon, “NBA Finals Game 3: A coronation for Nikola Jokić and comeback for Jamal Murray”, in The Athletic:",
          "text": "[Nikola] Jokić is his own story and because he is so big and so good and so versatile, the Heat are tied in knots trying to figure out how to slow him down.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "confusion",
          "confusion"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "in a bind",
          "in a bind"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 August 28, Hope Donahue, “Nip and tuck and nip again”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "There is no misery like the misery of being trapped in your own brain. The more I think about my problems, the more tied up in knots I become. I do not want to be alone, or pretend that I am not lonely. I don't want to pretend at all.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Worried, anxious, upset."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Worried",
          "worried"
        ],
        [
          "anxious",
          "anxious"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Worried, anxious, upset."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "tied up in knots"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tied in knots"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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.