tangle1 verbtangle2 noun
tangletan‧gle1 /ˈtæŋɡəl/ verb 
WORD ORIGINtangle1
Origin:
1300-1400 Probably from a Scandinavian languageVERB TABLE
tangle
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | tangle |
| he, she, it | tangles | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | tangled |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have tangled |
| he, she, it | has tangled | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had tangled |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will tangle |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have tangled |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am tangling |
| he, she, it | is tangling | |
| you, we, they | are tangling | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was tangling |
| you, we, they | were tangling | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been tangling |
| he, she, it | has been tangling | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been tangling |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be tangling |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been tangling |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Seikaly and Kitchner tangled for several minutes before the referees separated them.
- Birds can be injured by getting tangled in it, she says, or by swallowing hooks.
- But it tangles up all the time!
- One arm went round his neck, her fingers tangling in the silky hair at his nape.
- The future of machines lies in the tangled weeds underfoot.
- Viscosity, or resistance to flow, is a property of fluids containing long molecular chains that tangle and intertwine.
- You don't want to tangle with rutting stags, however.
- Zitney lay beside her, his firm, lean shoulder in the air, the sheet tangled negligently around his bronzed arm.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a tangled web of relationships
1[intransitive, transitive] (also tangle up) to become twisted together, or make something become twisted together, in an untidy mass: (=curls that are not neatly combed)· a boy with a tangle of brown curls
a tangled web of relationships· Recovery teams continue to clear the tangled wreckage.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· You're tangled up in something which will probably end in humiliation.· I think they just got their feet tangled up.· Economic decline is tangled up with political turmoil in a way that has made for a crisis of the constitution.· I thought our feet got tangled up.· But it tangles up all the time!· It warns policymakers not to get tangled up with averages but to focus instead on increments.· It too was festooned in ribbon, which managed to get tangled up with the lead.· The purest wilderness, everything tangled up with everything else.
NOUN· One arm went round his neck, her fingers tangling in the silky hair at his nape.· Her long skirt dragged on the ground and her tangled hair fell around Janir as she hunched over him.· She had tangled brown hair, a small and lively face, a dress of dark red material that clung to her.· The darkness in the corners grew out into the room and began to tangle in her hair.· His head was snapped upwards as though long fingers had tangled themselves in his hair and pulled.
My hair tangles easily. His parachute became tangled in the wheels of the plane.2[intransitive] to argue or fight with someonetangle with It was not an animal you’d care to tangle with.tangle1 verbtangle2 noun
tangletangle2 noun [countable] EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- It takes forever to comb the tangles out of my hair.
- He collided with the Guardsmen, and they went down in a tangle.
- In a functional sense, spillover was founded on the belief that contemporary economies were based upon a tangle of interrelated sectors.
- Indeed, as I practice the technique, my nervousness and tongue tangles diminish.
- Men and horses went down like ninepins before them, in a tangle of waving limbs, flailing hooves and broken lances.
- Out of this fraught legal and financial tangle the bureau worker must work with the client to create order and stability.
- The tangle could last minutes or it could last hours.
- They can also be dangerous to small fish and fry, which might get stuck in the tangle of filaments and suffocate.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY She followed him, pushing through the dense tangle of bushes and branches. Her brain was teeming with a whole tangle of emotions.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES a tangled web of relationships
1a twisted mass of something such as hair or thread: She followed him, pushing through the dense tangle of bushes and branches. Her brain was teeming with a whole tangle of emotions. (=curls that are not neatly combed)· a boy with a tangle of brown curls
a tangled web of relationships· Recovery teams continue to clear the tangled wreckage.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Out of this fraught legal and financial tangle the bureau worker must work with the client to create order and stability.
Her hair was full of tangles after being out in the wind.tangle of John was sitting on the floor in a tangle of blankets.tangle of bushes/branches/vegetation etc She followed him, pushing through the dense tangle of bushes and branches.2a confused state or situationtangle of Her brain was teeming with a whole tangle of emotions.3informal a quarrel or fighttangle with She got into a tangle with the staff.