sinuous
adjective
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Although it probably makes you think more of snakes than head colds, sinuous is etymologically more like sinus than serpent. Sinuous and sinus both derive from the Latin noun sinus, which means "curve, fold, or hollow." Other sinus descendants include insinuate ("to impart or suggest in an artful or indirect way") and two terms you might remember from math class: sine and cosine. In English, sinus is the oldest of these words; it entered the language in the 1400s. Insinuate appeared next, in the early 1500s, and was followed by sinuous and sine in the latter half of the 1500s, and cosine in the 1600s. Serpent, by the way, entered English in the 13th century and comes from the Latin verb serpere, meaning "to creep."
Synonyms
Examples of sinuous in a Sentence
Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 24 June 2024
The artworks, mostly soft and sinuous, include a video of hair-braiding and a flock of curving sculptures, modeled on Persian calligraphy and suspended overhead.
—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 21 June 2024
The park hosts works by British modernists Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, whose sculptures are sleek and sinuous.
—Gameli Hamelo, ARTnews.com, 21 June 2024
The aluminum superstructure is also adorned with sinuous concave patterns that reflect the movement of waves when the sun is in the right position.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 18 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for sinuous 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sinuous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Sinuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sinuous. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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