"tortuous" meaning in English

See tortuous in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈtɔːt͡ʃuːəs/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tortuous.wav [Southern-England] Forms: more tortuous [comparative], most tortuous [superlative]
Etymology: From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*terkʷ-}}, {{inh|en|enm|tortuous}} Middle English tortuous, {{m|enm|tortuose}} tortuose, {{der|en|xno|-}} Anglo-Norman, {{der|en|fro|tortuos}} Old French tortuos, {{der|en|la|tortuōsus}} Latin tortuōsus, {{m|la|tortus||a twisting, winding}} tortus (“a twisting, winding”) Head templates: {{en-adj}} tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)
  1. (often figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted. Tags: figuratively, often Translations (twisted): изкривен (izkriven) (Bulgarian), усукан (usukan) (Bulgarian), tortuós (Catalan), kiemurainen (Finnish), tortueux (French), sinueux (French), contorto (Italian), 曲がりくねった (magarikunetta) (alt: まがりくねった) (Japanese), flexuosus (Latin), پیچاپیچ (pičâpič) (Persian), pokrętny (Polish), wykrętny (Polish), zawiły (Polish), tortuoso (Portuguese), tortuoso (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-tortuous-en-adj-iJt6IwhJ Disambiguation of 'twisted': 98 1 1
  2. (astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely. Categories (topical): Astrology
    Sense id: en-tortuous-en-adj-WZRBS~c0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 15 57 28 Topics: astrology, human-sciences, mysticism, philosophy, sciences
  3. (obsolete) Injurious; tortious. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-tortuous-en-adj-CrT1Gp36

Download JSON data for tortuous meaning in English (6.2kB)

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      "expansion": "Middle English tortuous",
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  "etymology_text": "From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”).",
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      "form": "more tortuous",
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          "text": "The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.",
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          "ref": "1959 February, G. Freeman Allen, “Southampton—Gateway to the Ocean”, in Trains Illustrated, page 91",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 109",
          "text": "But the early Tubes still tended to follow the public streets in order to save money, hence some tortuous curves.",
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        "Twisted; having many turns; convoluted."
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        "(often figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted."
      ],
      "tags": [
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
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          "roman": "izkriven",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "изкривен"
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
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          "roman": "usukan",
          "sense": "twisted",
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        {
          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "tortuós"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "kiemurainen"
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        {
          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "tortueux"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "sinueux"
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        {
          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "contorto"
        },
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "alt": "まがりくねった",
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          "roman": "magarikunetta",
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          "word": "曲がりくねった"
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          "sense": "twisted",
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "twisted",
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "zawiły"
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "tortuoso"
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          "_dis1": "98 1 1",
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          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "twisted",
          "word": "tortuoso"
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          "text": "Infortunate ascendent tortuous.",
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        "Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely."
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        "(astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely."
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        "human-sciences",
        "mysticism",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
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        "Injurious; tortious."
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        "(obsolete) Injurious; tortious."
      ],
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        "obsolete"
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      "ipa": "/ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/",
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "tortuous"
}
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          "ref": "1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume 1, Porter & Coates, page 243",
          "text": "The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.",
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        {
          "ref": "1959 February, G. Freeman Allen, “Southampton—Gateway to the Ocean”, in Trains Illustrated, page 91",
          "text": "The Southern acquired them because the little Class \"B4\" 0-4-0 tanks were finding heavy modern rolling stock more and more of a handful, and at war's end the railway had nothing of suitable power but short wheelbase on its books to take their place on the more tortuous of the dock lines.",
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          "text": "2007 October 6, “Slogging on the Home Front”, editorial in The New York Times,\nIt 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."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 109",
          "text": "But the early Tubes still tended to follow the public streets in order to save money, hence some tortuous curves.",
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        "Twisted; having many turns; convoluted."
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        "(often figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted."
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          "oblique"
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        "(astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely."
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        "Injurious; tortious."
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          "tortious",
          "tortious"
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        "(obsolete) Injurious; tortious."
      ],
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      "ipa": "/ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/",
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      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "izkriven",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "изкривен"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "usukan",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "усукан"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "tortuós"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "kiemurainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "tortueux"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "sinueux"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "contorto"
    },
    {
      "alt": "まがりくねった",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "magarikunetta",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "曲がりくねった"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "flexuosus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "pičâpič",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "پیچاپیچ"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "pokrętny"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "wykrętny"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "zawiły"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "tortuoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "twisted",
      "word": "tortuoso"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tortuous"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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