tortuous
adjective
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Be careful not to confuse tortuous with torturous. These two words are relatives—both ultimately come from the Latin verb torquere, which means "to twist," "to wind," or "to wrench"—but tortuous means "winding" or "crooked," whereas torturous means "painfully unpleasant." Something tortuous, such as a twisting mountain road, might also be torturous (if, for example, you have to ride up that road on a bicycle), but that doesn't make these words synonyms. The twists and turns that mark a tortuous thing can be literal ("a tortuous path" or "a tortuous river") or figurative ("a tortuous argument" or "a tortuous explanation"), but you should veer away from using the term if no implication of winding or crookedness is present.
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Examples of tortuous in a Sentence
Cristina Mutchler, Health, 19 Oct. 2024
At the same time, the path to a U.S. listing has become increasingly tortuous for high-profile Chinese companies.
—Drew Bernstein, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024
There is nothing more painful, more heartbreaking, or more tortuous than wanting to grow your family and being told you can’t, especially by your own body.
—Tara Lipinski, Allure, 15 Oct. 2024
As for the danger of pushing Baghdad closer to Tehran, although Iran would gladly smother Iraq in a suffocating embrace, Iraq's own tortuous history of war with its neighbor means that Iraq will continue to seek a relationship with the West in part to counterbalance Tehran.
—Ned Parker, Foreign Affairs, 12 Feb. 2012
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“Tortuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tortuous. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
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tortuous
adjective
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