Definition of "knotty"

Of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots.  quotations  examples

Of a part of the body, a tree, etc.: full of knots (knobs or swellings); gnarled, knobbly.  quotations  examples

(figuratively)

1. Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • VVhy thou clay braind guts, thou knotty-pated foole, thou horeſon obſcene greaſie tallovv-catch.Knotty-pated apparently means “stupid”, but the Oxford English Dictionary also points out that it may be associated with not-pated (“with hair cut short”) which appears earlier in the same scene.]

     , The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, [Act II, scene v]

   • As for the Paſſions and Studies of the Minde, Auoid Enuie; Anxious Feares; Anger fretting invvards; Subtill and knottie Inquiſitions; Ioyes, and Exhilarations in Exceſſe; Sadneſſe not Communicated.

     1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Regiment of Health. XXX.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, page 188

   • The preſent Argument is the moſt abſtracted that ever I engaged in, it ſtrains my Faculties to their higheſt Stretch; and I deſire the Reader to attend with utmoſt perpenſity; For, I now proceed to unravel this knotty Point.

     1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section IX. A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], pages 169–170

   • He ſaid; the reſt in diff'rent parts divide, / The knotty point vvas urg'd on either ſide; / Marriage, the theme on vvhich they all declaim'd, / Some prais'd vvith vvit, and ſome vvith reaſon blam'd.

     1709, Alexander Pope, “January and May; or, The Merchant’s Tale, from Chaucer”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, page 208

   • It’s the knottier questions that elicit his cleaving judgments.

     2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker‎

2. Of an austere or hard nature; rugged.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [A] witte in youth, that is not ouer dulle, heauie, knottie and lumpiſhe, but hard, rough, and though ſomwhat ſtaffiſhe, […] ſuch a witte I ſay, if it be, at the firſt well handled by the mother, and rightlie ſmothed and wrought as it ſhould, not ouerwhartlie, and against the wood, by the ſcholemaſter, both for learning, and hole courſe of liuing, proueth alwaies the beſt.

     a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, “The First Booke for the Youth [Teachyng the Brynging vp of Youth]”, in Margaret Ascham, editor, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, folios 5, verso – 6, recto

   • […] I may erre perhaps in ſoothing my ſelfe that this preſent truth reviv'd, vvill deſerve on all hands to be not ſiniſterly receiv'd, […] but vvith a ſmooth and pleaſing leſſon, vvhich receiv'd hath the vertue to ſoften and diſpell rooted and knotty ſorrovves: […]

     1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “The Preface”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], book I, page 6