TORTUOUS

tortuous

(adjective) not straightforward; “his tortuous reasoning”

Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous

(adjective) 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”

tortuous, twisting, twisty, winding, voluminous

(adjective) 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”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)

(often, figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.

(astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.

(obsolete) Injurious; tortious.

Usage notes

• This term has strongly negative connotations, perhaps transferred from the similar-sounding adjective torturous.

• Not to be confused with the legal term tortious.

Source: Wiktionary

Tor"tu*ous, a. Etym: [OE. tortuos, L.tortuosus, fr.tortus a twisting, winding, fr. torquere, tortum, to twist: cf. F. tortueux. See Torture.]

1. Bent in different directions; wreathed; twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a tortuous leaf or corolla. The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay.

2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful. That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay.

3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]

4. (Astrol.)

Definition: Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat. Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv.

– Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition