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Webster 1913 Edition
Tortuous
Tor′tu-ous
,Adj.
[OE.
tortuos
, L. tortuosus
, fr. tortus
a twisting, winding, fr. torquere
, tortum
, to twist: cf. F. tortueux
. See Torture
.] 1.
Bent in different directions; wreathed; twisted; winding;
as, a
. tortuous
train; a tortuous
leaf or corollaThe badger made his dark and
tortuous
hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay.
2.
Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful.
That course became somewhat less
tortuous
, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay.
3.
Injurious: tortious.
[Obs.]
4.
(Astrol.)
Oblique; – applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely.
[Obs.]
Skeat.
Infortunate ascendent
–tortuous
. Chaucer.
Tor′tu-ous-ly
, adv.
Tor′tu-ous-ness
, Noun.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tortuous
TORT'UOUS
,Adj.
1.
Twisted; wreathed; winding; as a tortuous train; a tortuous leaf or corol, in botany.2.
Tortious. [Not used.] [See Tortious.]Definition 2024
tortuous
tortuous
English
Adjective
tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)
- Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.
- 2007 October 6, “Slogging on the Home Front”, editorial in The New York Times,
- It still takes almost half a year for the average veteran’s claim for disability benefits to be decided in a tortuous process that can involve four separate hearings.
- Macaulay
- The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.
- 2007 October 6, “Slogging on the Home Front”, editorial in The New York Times,
- (obsolete) injurious; tortious
- (astrology) oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely
- Skeat
- Infortunate ascendent tortuous.
- Skeat
Usage notes
- This term has strongly negative connotations, perhaps transferred from the similar-sounding adjective torturous.
- Not to be confused with the legal term tortious.