Tangle vs Dangle - What's the difference?
tangle | dangle |
to become mixed together or intertwined
to be forced into some kind of situation
to enter into an argument, conflict, dispute, or fight
to mix together or intertwine
to catch and hold
* Milton
* Crashaw
A tangled twisted mass.
A complicated or confused state or condition.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= An argument, conflict, dispute, or fight.
(mathematics) A region of the projection of a knot such that the knot crosses its perimeter exactly four times.
Any large type of seaweed, especially a species of Laminaria .
* 1849 , , In Memoriam , 10:
(in the plural) An instrument consisting essentiallly of an iron bar to which are attached swabs, or bundles of frayed rope, or other similar substances, used to capture starfishes, sea urchins, and other similar creatures living at the bottom of the sea.
to hang loosely with the ability to swing
* Hudibras
* Tennyson
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (intransitive, slang, ice hockey, lacrosse) The action of performing a move or deke with the puck in order to get past a defender or goalie; perhaps because of the resemblance to dangling the puck on a string.
To hang or trail something loosely.
To trail or follow around.
* 1833 , Miller's Modern Acting Drama
An agent of one intelligence agency or group who pretends to be interested in defecting or turning to another intelligence agency or group.
(slang, ice hockey, lacrosse) The action of dangling; a series of complex stick tricks and fakes in order to defeat the defender in style.
A dangling ornament or decoration.
* 1941 , Flora Thompson, Over to Candleford
In intransitive terms the difference between tangle and dangle
is that tangle is to enter into an argument, conflict, dispute, or fight while dangle is to hang loosely with the ability to swing.In transitive terms the difference between tangle and dangle
is that tangle is to catch and hold while dangle is to hang or trail something loosely.tangle
English
(wikipedia tangle)Etymology 1
Origin uncertain; apparently a variant form of (tagle).Verb
(tangl)- Her hair was tangled from a day in the wind.
- Don't tangle with someone three times your size.
- He tangled with the law.
- Tangled in amorous nets.
- When my simple weakness strays, / Tangled in forbidden ways.
Synonyms
* (to become mixed together or intertwined) dishevel, tousle * (to be forced into some kind of situation) drag, drag in, embroil, sweep, sweep up * argue, conflict, dispute, fight * (to mix together or intertwine) entangle, knot, mat, snarl * (to catch and hold) entrapAntonyms
* (to mix together or intertwine) untangle, unsnarlNoun
(en noun)Boundary problems, passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
Synonyms
* (tangled twisted mass) knot, mess, snarl * (complicated or confused state or condition) maze, snarl * argument, conflict, dispute, fightEtymology 2
Of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian tongul, Faroese tongul, Icelandic .Noun
(en noun)- Than if with thee the roaring wells / Should gulf him fathom-deep in brine; / And hands so often clasped in mine, / Should toss with tangle and with shells.
External links
* * *Anagrams
* English ergative verbsdangle
English
Verb
(dangl)- He'd rather on a gibbet dangle / Than miss his dear delight, to wrangle.
- From her lifted hand / Dangled a length of ribbon.
Fantasy of navigation, passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
- To dangle at the elbow of a wench who can't make up her mind to accept the common title of wife, till she has been courted a certain number of weeks — so the old blinker, her father, says.
Noun
(wikipedia dangle) (en noun)- That was a sick dangle for a great goal!
- So her father wrote to Mrs. Herring, and one day she arrived and turned out to be a little, lean old lady with a dark brown mole on one leathery cheek and wearing a black bonnet decorated with jet dangles , like tiny fishing rods.