Synonyms of knotty

Adjective

1. baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough, difficult (vs. easy), hard

usage: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"

2. gnarled, gnarly, knotted, knotty, knobbed, crooked (vs. straight)

usage: used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots; "gnarled and knotted hands"; "a knobbed stick"

3. Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous, complex (vs. simple)

usage: highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months"

4. knotty, snarled, snarly, tangled (vs. untangled)

usage: tangled in knots or snarls; "a mass of knotted string"; "snarled thread"

Definition and meaning of knotty (Dictionary)