tortuous Hear it!

tortuous Definition

tor·tu·ous (tôr′c̸ho̵̅o̅ əs)

adjective

  1. full of twists, turns, curves, or windings; winding; crooked
  2. not straightforward; devious; specif., deceitful or tricky

Etymology: ME < Anglo-Fr < L tortuosus < tortus: see tort

Related Forms:

tortuous Synonyms

tortuous

modif.

  1. Winding

    snaky, sinuous, twisting; see crooked 1, winding.

  2. Not straightforward

    deceitful, devious, perverse, tricky; see wicked 1, 2.

tortuous Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • vein: These ballooned tortuous veins are the varicose veins you can see just under the skin.
  • negotiation: BAC's stance in the tortuous negotiations about a move to Filton has been endorsed by the Charity Commissioners.
  • path: I tried to smile - to comprehend what tortuous path had led her here?
  • journey: In a tortuous journey across to Lesotho, he reaches the final crossing, the river gorge which forms the frontier.
  • route: Cons: A tortuous route from main road to car park site.
  • passage: This little working was remarkably narrow less than 50 cm in places, and had a tortuous entrance passage.

Modifying Another Word

  • somewhat: In particular, the format of the revision is somewhat tortuous.
  • rather: It's 20+ years since I read Tolkien, any Tolkien, but I can still remember it being a rather tortuous process.
  • slightly: Cons: Slightly tortuous route out of the car park.
  • sometimes: Petzold has deliberately chosen a slow, meandering, sometimes tortuous pace in order to build tension.
  • often: The prose can be predictable, the plot often tortuous.
  • very: It's all getting very tortuous again, isn't it?

Used with adjective complement

  • get: And the jokes get worse as the evening wears on, and of course they get funnier as they get more tortuous.