knotty

  • 1Knotty — 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 …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2knotty — [nät′ē] adj. knottier, knottiest [ME] 1. having or full of knots [a knotty board] 2. hard to solve or explain; puzzling [a knotty problem] knottiness n …

    English World dictionary

  • 3knotty — index problematic, recondite Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 4knotty — (adj.) mid 13c. (figurative use early 13c.), from KNOT (Cf. knot) (n.) + Y (Cf. y) (2). Related: Knottiness …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5knotty — intricate, involved, complicated, *complex …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 6knotty — [adj] troublesome baffling, complex, complicated, difficult, effortful, elaborate, formidable, Gordian*, hard, intricate, involved, labyrinthine, mazy, mystifying, perplexing, problematical, puzzling, ramified, reticular, rough, rugged,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 7knotty — ► ADJECTIVE (knottier, knottiest) 1) full of knots. 2) extremely difficult or intricate …

    English terms dictionary

  • 8Knotty — The game of knotty is a Scottish team sport. It is a variation of the game of shinty as played in the fishing communities of Lybster, Caithness. It used to be played widely in the town, as was shinty in the rest of Caithness, but it ceased to be… …

    Wikipedia

  • 9knotty — [[t]nɒ̱ti[/t]] knottier, knottiest 1) ADJ GRADED: usu ADJ n A knotty problem is complicated and difficult to solve. The new management team faces some knotty problems. Syn: thorny 2) ADJ: usu ADJ n Knotty wood has a lot of small hard areas on it… …

    English dictionary

  • 10knotty — UK [ˈnɒtɪ] / US [ˈnɑtɪ] adjective Word forms knotty : adjective knotty comparative knottier superlative knottiest 1) difficult to solve or understand a knotty problem 2) knotty wood has a lot of round hard places in it …

    English dictionary