How do you use the word "knot" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "knot": Bill was single until he tied the knot last week. This knot will not hold.

Knot Meaning

/nɒt/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA 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.

nounA tangled clump of hair or similar.

Sentence Examples

Bill was single until he tied the knot last week.

This knot will not hold.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

tangle

Antonyms:

unravel

CEFR Practice Quiz

The careful carpenter smoothed the rough ____ on the old wooden plank.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

He tied a tight ____ in the rope to make sure that the boat would not float away during the night.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The obstructive tendency attributed to the knot in spiritual matters appears in a Swiss superstition that if, in sewing a corpse into its shroud, you make a knot on the thread, it will hinder the soul of the deceased on its passage to eternity." — 1911, James George Frazer, chapter V, in Taboo and the Perils of the Soul (The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion; II), third edition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, page 310:

"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." — 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

"A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs." — 1664, Robert South, A Sermon Preached Before the University at Christ-Church, Oxon:

"[T]he Queen who sat / With lips severely placid, felt the knot / Climb in her throat, […]" — 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 185:

"his ancient knot of dangerous adversarie" — c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

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