tortuous

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈtɔrtʃuəs/ UK /ˈtɔːtjuəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
full of twists and turns; excessively complicated

The road followed a tortuous path up the mountainside.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · full of twists and turns;... winding twistingmeanderingcircuitous convoluted serpentine sinuous complicated

Opposites

straight direct straightforward

Word family

Forms tortuously

Derived forms tortuouslytortuositytortuousness

Related forms torture torttorsiondistort

Simplified etymology

Tortuous entered English in the late Middle Ages and derives from Latin tortura, “twisting” or “torment,” a noun formed from torquere, “to twist.”

Etymology

From Old French tortuous, from Latin tortuōsus ('full of twists'), from tortus ('a twisting'), from torquēre ('to twist').

tortuōsus Latin torquēre Latin *terkʷ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# tortuous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈtɔrtʃuəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtɔːtjuəs/

## Meanings
1. full of twists and turns; excessively complicated

## Examples
- The road followed a tortuous path up the mountainside.

## Synonyms
- winding
- twisting
- meandering
- circuitous
- convoluted
- serpentine
- sinuous
- complicated

## Antonyms
- straight
- direct
- straightforward

## Derived Forms
- tortuously
- tortuosity
- tortuousness

## Related Forms
- torture
- tort
- torsion
- distort

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: tortuōsus
- Root: torquēre
- Root: *terkʷ-

## Etymology
From Old French tortuous, from Latin tortuōsus ('full of twists'), from tortus ('a twisting'), from torquēre ('to twist').

## AI Etymology
Tortuous comes from Old French tortuous, from Latin tortuōsus ('full of twists'), from tortus ('a twisting'), from torquēre ('to twist'). The historical chain includes Latin tortuōsus, Latin torquēre, and Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ-. The quoted older senses, "full of twists", "a twisting", and "to twist", supply the semantic anchors for tortuous. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word tortuous carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "full of twists and turns; excessively complicated". English derivatives include tortuously, tortuosity, and tortuousness; related English forms include torture, tort, torsion, and distort. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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