1. In a confused mass
   "pushed back her tangled hair"; "the tangled ropes"
    
2. Highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious
   "Oh, what a tangled web we weave";
   - Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tortuous, labyrinthine

1. Twist together or entwine into a confusing mass
   "The child tangled the cord";
   - entangle, mat, snarl
    
2. Disarrange or rumple; dishevel
   "The strong wind tangled my hair";
   - tousle, dishevel
    
3. Make more complicated or confused
   "Her long hair tangled in the wind";
   - ravel, knot
    
4. Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action
   "They were tangled up by the events";
   - embroil, sweep, sweep up, drag, drag in

See also: afoul, complex, drag, enmeshed, entangled, foul, fouled, intermeshed, knotty, matted, rootbound, snarled, snarly, thrown [archaic], thrown and twisted [archaic]

Type of: disarrange, distort, enlace, entwine, interlace, intertwine, interwind, intwine [archaic], involve, lace, twine, twist

Antonym: unscramble, untangled

Encyclopedia: Tangled