Tortuous: meaning, example and synonyms
Tortuousadj. Full of twists and turns; excessively complex or roundabout.
Example
The treaty's tortuous negotiations, which stalled repeatedly over minor clauses, lasted so long that several of the original negotiators retired before its signing.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- winding, twisting, convoluted, meandering
- Antonyms
- straight, direct, straightforward, simple
- Memory tip
- Tortuous = twisting (not torturous = painful).
Tortuous is in batch 17. Study it with the rest of the batch, then pass the batch quiz to learn it. No account needed; progress is saved on this device.
Check yourself: Tortuous in context
The ______ mountain road, with its endless hairpin bends, added three hours to a journey that would have taken forty minutes on a straight highway.
Answer: tortuous. A road full of hairpin bends is twisting: tortuous. Facetious (flippantly joking), delusive (misleading) and interchangeable (able to be swapped) don't fit.
Readers struggled to follow the philosopher's ______ argument, which doubled back on itself repeatedly and buried its central claim beneath layers of qualification.
Answer: tortuous. An argument that doubles back and buries its point is convoluted: tortuous. Secluded (isolated), salutary (beneficial) and furtive (secretive) don't fit.