What does "knot" mean?
A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
Knot
/nɒt/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
- Grammar: knot is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: accouple, accumulate, adhesive, affix.
- Useful contrasts: ease, ravels, simplicity.
- Usage evidence: Bill was single until he tied the knot last week.
How to use "knot"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "knot" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "knot" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "knot" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "knot" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "knot" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "accouple" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "knot", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.
"Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope."
- 2 One of a variety of shore birds; red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or Tringa canutus).
"My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]"
- 3 a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the Southern Hemisphere wordnet
- 4 A tangled clump of hair or similar.
"The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair."
- 5 any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object wordnet
Show 23 more definitions
- 6 A maze-like pattern.
"Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art / In beds and curious knots, but nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain."
- 7 soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or created by design wordnet
- 8 A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above).
"A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon."
- 9 a tight cluster of people or things wordnet
- 10 A difficult situation.
"I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman."
- 11 something twisted and tight and swollen wordnet
- 12 The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk.
"When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks."
- 13 a hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a branch emerged wordnet
- 14 Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury.
"Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe."
- 15 (of ships and wind) a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour or about 1.15 statute miles per hour wordnet
- 16 A tightened and contracted part of a muscle that feels like a hard lump under the skin.
- 17 A protuberant joint in a plant.
- 18 Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance.
"[T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […]"
- 19 The swelling of the bulbus glandis in members of the dog family, Canidae.
- 20 The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter.
"the knot of the tale"
- 21 A node (point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions)
- 22 A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot.
- 23 A group of people or things.
"his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie"
- 24 A bond of union; a connection; a tie.
"[I come] to crave a league of amity, And lastly, to confirm that amity With nuptial knot […]"
- 25 A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.
"Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots."
- 26 A unit of indicated airspeed, calibrated airspeed, or equivalent airspeed, which varies in its relation to the unit of speed so as to compensate for the effects of different ambient atmospheric conditions on aircraft performance.
"In the early stages of reentry, due to the extremely-rarefied air at these altitudes, the space shuttle flew at only one to a few knots equivalent airspeed, even when its actual speed was many thousands of knots."
- 27 A nautical mile.
- 28 The bulbus glandis. slang
Verb
- 1 To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots. transitive
"We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling."
- 2 tie or fasten into a knot wordnet
- 3 To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc. transitive
"She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands."
- 4 tangle or complicate wordnet
- 5 To unite closely; to knit together.
"The party of the papists in England are become more knotted, both in dependence towards Spain, and amongst themselves."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 make into knots; make knots out of wordnet
- 7 To entangle or perplex; to puzzle. obsolete, rare, transitive
- 8 To form knots. intransitive
- 9 To knit knots for a fringe. intransitive
Antonyms
Example
"Bill was single until he tied the knot last week."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "knot"?
Common synonyms include: accouple, accumulate, adhesive, affix, affixation, agglutinate.
How do you use "knot" in a sentence?
Bill was single until he tied the knot last week.
How do you pronounce "knot"?
Pronounced /nɒt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile.
Etymology 2
Supposed to be derived from the name of King Canute, with whom the bird was a favourite article of food. See the specific epithet canutus.