tangled web
Lies upon lies
A tangled web is a complicated situation created by deception or poor decisions, where one problem leads to another until the whole mess becomes difficult to escape.
The phrase comes from Walter Scott's line "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" It evokes a spider's web gone wrong—sticky threads that trap the weaver as much as the prey: His lies about where he'd been that night started a tangled web that eventually cost him his marriage.
- stickyApt to adhere
- sticky situationDifficult circumstance to escape
- knotTied rope fastening
- meshInterlocking open weave
- liesDeliberate untruths
twist · spun out · deception · hidden agenda · entrapment · rivalry · bottleneck · Walter Scott · machinations · betrayal · schemes · conspiracy · snarl · secrecy · labyrinthine · house of cards · ensnarement · gridlock
- predicamentspredicament, dilemma, bind, pickle, pinch
- messy situationsjunk drawer, rat's nest, pigsty, disaster zone, train wreck
- metaphorsbroken heart, dead metaphor, mixed metaphor, time is money, extended metaphor
tangled websimple truth
Unadorned honest statement
plain truth · unvarnished truth · clean slate · clear conscience · open book
tangled webstraight line
Undeviated continuous path
clear path · logical order · streamlined process · direct route
tangled webhonest living
Income from ethical labor
integrity · clean hands · clear conscience · straight dealing · plain dealing
web, tangle, tangled, untangle, entangle, entangled, tangling, entanglement, untangled