knotty

12 synonyms and 4 antonyms for knotty, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Adj — Describes string or similar material that is tangled or tied into knots.

Synonyms

Everyday swaps

Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.

involved

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

elusive Byzantine problematic

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

knotted gnarly labyrinthine gnarled knobbed convoluted problematical baffling

Synonyms by Meaning

1. adj

Describes string or similar material that is tangled or tied into knots.

elusive knotted gnarly labyrinthine Byzantine gnarled knobbed convoluted problematic problematical baffling involved

2. adj

Difficult and complicated; hard to sort out.

“It’s the knottier questions that elicit his cleaving judgments.”

Opposites

uncomplicated simple easy obvious

Etymology

From Middle English knotti, knotty (“having a knot in it; full of knots; tied together (?); resembling a knot, knotlike; having knobs or protuberances; bulging, convex; of a tree, branch, etc.: full of knots, gnarled; of a plant cutting to be grafted or planted: full of buds or eyes; having joints (?); having swollen j...

Full origin of knotty →

People also searched

easy involved simple obvious problematic Byzantine elusive gnarled labyrinthine convoluted gnarly uncomplicated

Nearby words

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