v. 1
To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots.
We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.
v. 2
To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc.
She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands.
n. 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.
n. 2
A tangled clump of hair or similar.
The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair.

Related words

Word family: knotgrass knotroot knotty knotwort
Phrases: water knot fisherman's knot true lover's knot waterman's knot weaver's knot running knot tie the knot balloon knot

Forms

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

2 letters: kt
3 letters: set¹, tie¹
4 letters: join¹, band¹, crew¹, bond¹, gang¹, node¹, bind¹, knit¹, maze¹, knob¹, burr¹, snag¹, kink, yoke¹
5 letters: group¹, squad¹, bunch¹, screw¹, unite², hitch¹, ravel², affix², snarl¹, skein¹, gnarl¹
6 letters: puzzle², attach², clinch¹, clique¹, tangle², hickey², fasten², splice¹, muddle², baffle²
7 letters: company³, connect², cluster², confuse², perplex², fluster², conjoin², flummox²
8 letters: confound², entangle³
9 letters: associate⁴
10 letters: complicate³, perplexity⁴, disconcert³
12 letters: complication⁴, entanglement⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (unite² = 2 syllables).