Search Result for "knotty": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe;
- Example: "a baffling problem"
- Example: "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"
- Example: "a problematic situation at home"
[syn: baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough]

2. used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots;
- Example: "gnarled and knotted hands"
- Example: "a knobbed stick"
[syn: gnarled, gnarly, knotted, knotty, knobbed]

3. highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious;
- Example: "the Byzantine tax structure"
- Example: "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"
- Example: "convoluted legal language"
- Example: "convoluted reasoning"
- Example: "the plot was too involved"
- Example: "a knotty problem"
- Example: "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"
- Example: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott
- Example: "tortuous legal procedures"
- Example: "tortuous negotiations lasting for months"
[syn: Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous]

4. tangled in knots or snarls;
- Example: "a mass of knotted string"
- Example: "snarled thread"
[syn: knotty, snarled, snarly]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Knotty \Knot"ty\, a. [Compar. Knottier; superl. Knottiest.]
   1. Full of knots; knotted; having many knots; as, knotty
      timber; a knotty rope.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hard; rugged; as, a knotty head. [R.] --Rewe.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Difficult; intricate; perplexed.
      [1913 Webster]

            A knotty point to which we now proceed --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

knotty
    adj 1: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve
           or believe; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty
           problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic
           situation at home" [syn: baffling, elusive, knotty,
           problematic, problematical, tough]
    2: used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or
       knots; "gnarled and knotted hands"; "a knobbed stick" [syn:
       gnarled, gnarly, knotted, knotty, knobbed]
    3: highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the
       Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on
       to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language";
       "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a
       knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering";
       "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott;
       "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting
       for months" [syn: Byzantine, convoluted, involved,
       knotty, tangled, tortuous]
    4: tangled in knots or snarls; "a mass of knotted string";
       "snarled thread" [syn: knotty, snarled, snarly]