knotty Definition

knot¹
noun

1. A join or tie in string, etc made by looping the ends around each other and pulling tight.
2. A bond or uniting link.
3. A coil or bun in the hair.
4. A decoratively tied ribbon, etc.
5. A tangle in hair, string, etc.

Thesaurus: snarl, snag, coil, spiral, contortion, entanglement, tangle, twist.
6. A difficulty or complexity.
7. A hard mass of wood at the point where a branch has grown out from a tree trunk.
8. A scar on a piece of timber, representing a cross-section through such a mass.
9. A node or joint in a stem, especially of grass.
10. A small gathering or cluster of people, etc.

Thesaurus: cluster, bunch, assortment, gathering, aggregation, collection, heap, mass, pile.
11. Used in meteorology and in navigation by aircraft and at sea: a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile (1.85km) per hour.
12. loosely
A nautical mile.
13. A tight feeling, eg in the stomach, caused by nervousness.

verb knotted, knotting

1. To tie something in a knot.
tr & intr
2. To tangle; to form knots.

Thesaurus: entangle, entwine, knit, tangle.
intr
3. Said eg of the stomach: to become tight with nervousness, etc.

Derivative: knotless
adj

Derivative: knotted

Full of knots.

Having a knot or knots.

Derivative: knotty

Full of knots.
Thesaurus: gnarled, bumpy, hard, knobby, knotted, nodular, rough, rugged.

Said of a problem, etc: difficult, complex or intricate.
Thesaurus: difficult, complex, troublesome, complicated, unresolvable, hard.

Idiom: at a rate of knots

colloq
Very fast.

Idiom: get knotted!

(rit)
colloq
An expression of disagreement, refusal or dismissiveness.

Idiom: tie someone in knots (tie oneself in knots)

To bewilder, confuse or perplex them or oneself.

Idiom: tie the knot

colloq
To get married.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon cnotta.