tortuous
pronunciation
How to pronounce tortuous in British English:
UK [ˈtɔ:tʃuəs]
How to pronounce tortuous in American English:
US [ˈtɔrtʃuəs]
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- Adjective:
- highly involved or intricate
- marked by repeated turns and bends
- not straightforward
Word Origin
- tortuous
- tortuous: see torment
- tortuous (adj.)
- late 14c., "full of twists and turns," from Anglo-French tortuous (12c.), Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuosus "full of twists, winding," from tortus "a twisting, winding," from stem of torquere "to twist, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). Related: Tortuously; tortuousness.
Example
- 1. The j-15 has followed an even more tortuous route .
- 2. Changing health systems is tortuous .
- 3. But even securing that agreement has been a tortuous process .
- 4. Many at the conference likened it to the tortuous process of conquering addiction .
- 5. The second has involved a tortuous row over imported second-hand cars .