Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
tie in knots en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic, transitive) To put (someone) in a difficult situation.
That is where [Andrew] Cuomo’s unravelling began, with the revelation – admitted in part by his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, to state lawmakers – that the administration suppressed the number of nursing home deaths by several thousand in order to avoid a federal inquiry. DeRosa claimed the move was made to avoid Donald Trump tying them up in knots, but it sounded suspiciously like a cover-up.
2021 March 14, Ed Pilkington, “A year of living dangerously: how Andrew Cuomo fell from grace”, in The Observer:
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(idiomatic, transitive) To make (someone) upset or anxious.
Forms
Relateds
in knots · tied in knots · tie oneself in knots