tortuous
/'tɔ:tjuəs/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Not straightforward; excessively complicated or indirect: Describes reasoning, arguments, or processes that are unnecessarily complex, convoluted, or deceitful.
- Full of twists, turns, or bends: Describes a physical path, road, or route that winds repeatedly.
- Highly intricate or involved: Describes something that is exceedingly complex, tangled, or difficult to follow.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- His explanation was so tortuous that no one could understand the main point.
- We drove slowly along the tortuous mountain road.
- The company's ownership structure is tortuous, involving dozens of shell companies.
- After months of tortuous negotiations, they finally reached an agreement.
Advanced Usage
"Tortuous logic": Reasoning that is unnecessarily complicated and difficult to follow.
- The philosopher was criticized for his tortuous logic, which obscured more than it clarified.
"A tortuous journey": Can describe both a literal, winding trip or a figurative, difficult process.
- Her path to becoming CEO was a tortuous journey filled with setbacks.
Variants and Related Words
Tortuously (adverb): In a winding or excessively complex manner.
- The plot developed tortuously over ten episodes.
Tortuosity (noun): The quality or state of being tortuous.
- The tortuosity of the canyon's trails makes hiking there a challenge.
Synonyms
- Convoluted: Intricately folded, twisted, or complicated.
- Winding: Having a curving, spiral, or twisting course.
- Labyrinthine: Like a labyrinth; intricate and confusing.
- Byzantine: (Often used figuratively) Excessively complex and intricate.
Antonyms
- Straightforward: Easy to do or understand; direct.
- Direct: Proceeding in a straight line or by the shortest course; straightforward.
- Simple: Easily understood or done; not complicated.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- "A tortuous path to success": A common phrase describing a success achieved through a very difficult, non-linear, and complicated process.
- Many inventors find that the path to a successful product is long and tortuous.
Adjective
- not straightforward
- his tortuous reasoning
- marked by repeated turns and bends
- a tortuous road up the mountain
- winding roads are full of surprises
- had to steer the car down a twisty track
- highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious
- the Byzantine tax structure
- Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship
- convoluted legal language
- convoluted reasoning
- the plot was too involved
- a knotty problem
- got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering
- Oh, what a tangled web we weave- Sir Walter Scott
- tortuous legal procedures
- tortuous negotiations lasting for months