knotty - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Whether it’s pine or problems, sometimes the word knotty can apply to both. Knotty can describe something that has a lot of knots, either literally or figuratively.

The adjective knotty is a way to describe something that’s covered in knots. It can be used in a literal sense to refer to wood that is covered in hard, irregular knots — you’ve probably seen these circular, knobby imperfections that sometime appear on wood. The word can also be used figuratively to describe something that is intricate and difficult to solve, such as a knotty political problem involving two warring nations or a knotty legal issue involving complicated constitutional issues.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: knotty

1	adj	tangled in knots or snarls
2	adj	used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots
3	adj	making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: knotty

1

adj tangled in knots or snarls

Synonyms:: snarled, snarly

: tangled
in a confused mass

2

adj used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots

Synonyms:: gnarled, gnarly, knobbed, knotted

: crooked
having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned

3

adj making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

“I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast”

Synonyms:: baffling, elusive, problematic, problematical, tough

: difficult, hard
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

adj highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious

“a knotty problem”

Synonyms:: Byzantine, convoluted, involved, tangled, tortuous

: complex
complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts