knotty
Syllables: knot·tyUK/ˈnɒti//ˈnɑti/
knotty adjective: of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots.
Adjective
knotty (comparative knottier or more knotty, superlative knottiest or most knotty)
- Of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots.
- I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end, / Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Their heads are long, their haire curld, and ſeeming rather wooll, then haire; tis blacke and knotty: […]1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Description of the Sauage Inhabitants [of Ethiopia]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […]...
- Of a part of the body, a tree, etc.: full of knots (knobs or swellings); gnarled, knobbly.
- a knotty pine
- If thou murmur'ſt, I vvwill rend an Oake / And peg thee in his knotty entrailes, till / Thou haſt hovvl'd avvay tvvelve vvinters.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult.
- a knotty problem
- crop-headed, short-hairedDavid Crystal; Ben Crystal (2017–), “not-pated, adj.”, in Shakespeare’s Words
- Synonyms:
- intricate, thorny, complex, complexed, complicate, complicated, convoluted, Gordian, involute, involutional
- Antonyms:
- simple, uncomplicated
- Of an austere or hard nature; rugged.
- [A] witte in youth, that is not ouer dulle, heauie, knottie and lumpiſhe, but hard, rough, and though ſomwhat ſtaffiſhe, […] ſuch a witte I ſay, if it be, at the firſt well handled by the mother, and rightlie ſmothed and wrought as it ſhould, not ouerwhartlie, and against the wood, by the...a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, “The First Booke for the Youth [Teachyng the Brynging vp of Youth]”, in Margaret Ascham, editor, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching...
- […] I may erre perhaps in ſoothing my ſelfe that this preſent truth reviv'd, vvill deſerve on all hands to be not ſiniſterly receiv'd, […] but vvith a ſmooth and pleaſing leſſon, vvhich receiv'd hath the vertue to ſoften and diſpell rooted and knotty ſorrovves: […]1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “The Preface”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book I, page 6
knotty meaning in Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Gujarati
knotty in Hindi
- knotty
- गठीला gaṭhīlā
knotty in Malayalam
- complicated, complex, involved
- നിറയെ കുരുക്കുകളുള്ള, കുരുക്കുള്ള, കുരുങ്ങിയ, സങ്കീർണ്ണമായ, സമ്മിശ്രമായ, കെട്ടുപിണഞ്ഞ
- nodular, gnarled, knotted
- മുട്ടുകളുള്ള, മുരടുകളുള്ള, മുഴകളുള്ള, കവരങ്ങളുള്ള, നിറയെ മുഴകളുള്ള, ചുറയുള്ള
- tangled, knotted, tangly
- കെട്ടുകളുള്ള, കെട്ടിപ്പിണഞ്ഞ, കുരുക്കുള്ള, കെട്ടുവീണ, കൂടിപ്പിണഞ്ഞ, നൂലാമാലയായ
knotty in Kannada
- ತೊಡಕಿನ, ಸಿಕ್ಕುಸಿಕ್ಕಾದ, ಗಂಟುಗಂಟಾದ
knotty in Gujarati
- knotty, full of knots
- ગાંઠિયું gā̃ṭhiyũ
More languagesFewer languages
- knotty in Odia
- ଗଣ୍ଠି gaṇṭhi
- knotty in Sanskrit
- पर्वत párvata, परुष paruṣá
Examples of knotty in a sentence
- He limps slowly, his right leg below the knee as knotty and bulbed as an old root.
- To the blue cords fastening the bent coudière around his elbow were added knotty strings of dark red.
- He was huge, raw-boned, knotty, long of body and long of leg, with the head of a war charger.
Synonyms of knotty
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of knotty
| comparative | knottier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more knotty |
| superlative | knottiest |
| superlative | most knotty |
Origin of knotty
From Middle English knotti, knotty (“having a knot in it; full of knots; tied together (?); resembling a knot, knotlike; having knobs or protuberances; bulging, convex; of a tree, branch, etc.: full of knots, gnarled; of a plant cutting to be grafted or planted: full of buds or eyes; having joints (?); having swollen joints; of flesh: glandular; of flesh: granular, lumpy, especially, having many swellings; mangy, scurfy (?); having pimples (?); of cauterization: carried out on glandular tissue; (figuratively) of a question or problem: difficult, intricate”) [and other forms], from knotte (“knot; pattern of intersecting lines; coil of a snake”) (from Old English cnotta (“knot”), from Proto-Germanic *knuttô (“knot”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gned- (“to bind”)) + -i (suffix forming adjectives from nouns). The English word may be analysed as knot + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’). Cognates * Dutch knoestig (“knotty”) * German knotig (“knotty”) * Swedish knotig, knutig (“knotty”)
Words formed from knotty
Words that rhyme with knotty
7 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about knotty
- What does knotty mean?
- Knotty means of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots.
- What is knotty in Hindi?
- Knotty in Hindi is गठीला (gaṭhīlā). See Knotty meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is knotty?
- Knotty is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce knotty?
- Knotty is pronounced /ˈnɒti/ (UK).
Words near knotty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: knotty (page history and authors); गठीला (Hindi) (page history and authors); knotty (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); knotty (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ગાંઠિયું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଗଣ୍ଠି (Odia) (page history and authors); परुष (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-knotty.ogg.
Cite this entry: “knotty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knotty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.