tortuous

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“
Stress aggravated the poor man's affliction and not being able to trust his facial expressions made social situations tortuous, and not in an even slightly sexy way.

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Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Having or marked by repeated turns or bends; winding or twisting: a tortuous road through the mountains.
  2. adjective Not straightforward; circuitous; devious: a tortuous plot; tortuous reasoning.
  3. adjective Highly involved; complex: tortuous legal procedures.
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Examples (50)

  • The ride back to the portal was tortuous, the road seeming far longer. —  VANCE MOORE
  • So tortuous was his channel that the water became a great, snarling rope of white foam Doc caught sight of his quarry. —  001 - The Man of Bronze
  • At times the torchlight would be at our backs, so tortuous was the path, and frequently we would find ourselves slipping down a slide - but for God's sake don't let go the tail! —  Memoirs of a Southerner
  • Francis Veber in its tortuous, absurd, over-the-top, rapid fire scenarios, —  GreenCine Daily
  • Stress aggravated the poor man's affliction and not being able to trust his facial expressions made social situations tortuous, and not in an even slightly sexy way. —  problemchildbride.com Blog
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

devious ·  circuitous ·  steep ·  rutted ·  sinuous ·  precipitous ·  hilly ·  labyrinthine ·  muddy ·  intricate ·  interminable ·  unfrequented
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus, a twisting, from past participle of torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English tortuous, tortuos, from Old French tortuos, French tortueux =Provencal tortuos =Spanish Portuguese Italian tortuoso, from Latin tortuosus, full of twists or turns, winding, tortuous, from tortus, a twisting, winding, whirling, a wreath: see tort.
 

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/ˈtɔrtʃjuəs/
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