tortuous

(tôr'chū-əs)
adj.

1. Having or marked by repeated turns or bends; winding or twisting: a tortuous road through the mountains.
2. Not straightforward; circuitous; devious: a tortuous plot; tortuous reasoning.
3. Highly involved; complex: tortuous legal procedures.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus, a twisting, from past participle of torquēre, to twist.]

tortuously tor'tu·ous·ly adv.
tortuousness tor'tu·ous·ness n.

USAGE NOTE   Although tortuous and torturous both come from the Latin word torquēre, "to twist," their primary meanings are distinct. Tortuous means "twisting" (a tortuous road) or by extension "complex" or "devious." Torturous refers primarily to torture and the pain associated with it. However, torturous also can be used in the sense of "twisted" or "strained," and tortured is an even stronger synonym: tortured reasoning.

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adjective

1. Repeatedly curving in alternate directions: anfractuous, flexuous, meandrous, serpentine, sinuous, snaky, winding. See repetition, straight/bent.
2. Not taking a direct or straight line or course: anfractuous, circuitous, circular, devious, indirect, oblique, roundabout. See straight/bent.

adj

Definition: complicated
Antonyms: easy, straightforward, uncomplicated, uninvolved

adj

Definition: very twisted
Antonyms: direct, straight, untwisted

IN BRIEF: Not straightforward; highly involved or intricate.

Reason is the slow and tortuous method by which these who do not know the truth discover it. The heart has its own reason which reason does not know. — Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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For a list of words related to tortuous, see:

• Falsehood, Pretense, and Exaggeration - tortuous: (adj) characterized by indirect tactics; tricky, crooked, or devious

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See words rhyming with "tortuous."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Tortuous.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - snoet, bugtet, kroget

Nederlands (Dutch)
slingerend, omslachtig

Français (French)
adj. - sinueux, tortueux, (fig) tortueux

Deutsch (German)
adj. - gewunden, umständlich, krumm, unaufrichtig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - συνεστραμμένος, στρεβλός, ελικοειδής, μαιανδρικός, (μτφ.) ανέντιμος, δόλιος, στρυφνός, ύπουλος

Italiano (Italian)
tortuoso

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - tortuoso (m), sinuoso (m), desonesto (m)

Русский (Russian)
извилистый, уклончивый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - tortuoso, sinuoso

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - krokig, slingrig, invecklad, krånglig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
迂回曲折的, 罗嗦的, 扭曲的, 不正直的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 迂回曲折的, 囉嗦的, 扭曲的, 不正直的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 비비 꼬인, 비틀어진, 완곡한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 曲がりくねった, 回りくどい, 不正な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) ملتو, متعرج, متعمج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מתפתל, רב-עיקולים, עקום, לא ישר, סחור-סחור‬

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