Entangled means twisted together in a complicated way that's difficult to undo. When your earbuds become entangled in your backpack, the wires wrap around each other in frustrating knots. Fishing line can become entangled in seaweed, and long hair gets entangled in hairbrush bristles.

The word describes things that are genuinely stuck together, wrapped around each other in ways that take patience to separate. A kite string might become entangled in tree branches, requiring careful work to free it without breaking anything.

People use entangled for complicated situations too. Someone might become entangled in a disagreement between two friends, getting pulled into an argument they never wanted to be part of. A detective investigating a crime might discover that several suspects are entangled in a web of lies, each person's story connected to another's in complicated ways.

Whether it's Christmas lights wrapped around themselves or a complex problem involving many people, entangled describes that frustrating state of being twisted up together.