"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: in trouble 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: 42 9 48 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 5 48 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 4 46
  2. (idiomatic) Worried, anxious, upset. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: nervous
    Sense id: en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-dwOjPNUl

Verb

Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} tied in knots
  1. simple past and past participle of tie in knots Tags: form-of, participle, past Form of: tie in knots Synonyms: tied up in knots
    Sense id: en-tied_in_knots-en-verb-0IFNJCHY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 9 48 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 5 48 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 4 46

Alternative forms

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    {
      "form": "more tied in knots",
      "tags": [
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    },
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      "form": "most tied in knots",
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        {
          "_dis": "42 9 48",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      "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"
        }
      ],
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        "In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
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      "id": "en-tied_in_knots-en-adj-fcO-Dpua",
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "in a bind",
          "in a bind"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "word": "tie in knots"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "word": "tie oneself in knots"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
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          "word": "in trouble"
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      "tags": [
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      "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"
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        "(idiomatic) Worried, anxious, upset."
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        "simple past and past participle of tie in knots"
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          "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.",
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        "(idiomatic) In a state of confusion; in a difficult situation, in a bind."
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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 2025-01-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). 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.