tortuous
Twisting and turning
Tortuous means full of twists and turns.
A tortuous road winds through mountains; a tortuous argument follows a complicated, indirect path to its conclusion.
The word implies difficulty or confusion caused by the winding nature: The tortuous negotiations dragged on for months.
Often confused with torturous (causing torture), though something tortuous may feel torturous to endure.
Curving in repeated bends
- meanderingFollowing a winding course
- sinuousCurving in flowing turns
- twistingRotating with distortion
- curvingBending in arc
zigzag · snaky · labyrinthine · convoluted · circuitous · crooked · bent · coiled
Excessively complex or twisted
- intricateElaborately detailed, many parts
- complicatedDifficult to understand
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
- byzantineDauntingly intricate and devious
tangled · knotty · involved · elaborate · circuitous · confusing · perplexing · bewildering
serpentine
Curving in repeated bends
- meanderingFollowing a winding course
- sinuousCurving in flowing turns
- twistingRotating with distortion
curving · zigzag · snaky · labyrinthine · convoluted · circuitous · crooked · bent · coiled · spiral
convoluted
Excessively complex or twisted
- intricateElaborately detailed, many parts
- complicatedDifficult to understand
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
byzantine · tangled · knotty · involved · elaborate · circuitous · confusing · perplexing · bewildering · maze-like
devious
Underhanded and calculating
- duplicitousDeliberately deceptive in nature
- cunningSly, scheming cleverness
- craftyCleverly deceptive
scheming · underhanded · dishonest · crooked · indirect · guileful · sly · tricky · insidious · disingenuous
- spiralsspiral, helix, logarithmic spiral, coil, whorl
- complexitycomplex, complicated, simple, intricate, easy
- circulationblood, circulation, arteries, veins, bloodstream
tortuousstraight
Not curved or crooked
linear · direct · unbent · untwisted · rectilinear
tortuousstraightforward
Clear and uncomplicated
simple · direct · uncomplicated · clear · plain