devious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   deviating from a straight course

   A scenic but devious route.

Common collocations

• devious character Adjective + noun

1590s, "out of the common or direct way," from Latin devius (“out of the way, remote, off the main road”), from de via, from de (“off”) (see de-) + via (“way, road”). Compare deviate. Originally in the Latin literal sense; the figurative sense of "deceitful" is first recorded 1630s. Related to deviously, deviousness. Figurative senses of the Latin word were "retired, sequestered, wandering in the byways, foolish, inconsistent."

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images