Dictionary Workbench Ondict

tortuous

Dictionary entry view. Switch to definition mode above when you know the meaning but not the word.

tortuous

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++tor·tu·ous /ˈtɔːtʃuəs $ ˈtɔːr-/ adjective  1 SGBENDa tortuous path, stream, road etc has a lot of bends in it and is therefore difficult to travel along 〔路、溪流等〕弯弯曲曲的,曲折的 a tortuous path over the mountains to Kandahar 翻山越岭通往坎大哈的一条蜿蜒小径2 COMPLICATEDcomplicated and long and therefore confusing 转弯抹角的,绕圈子的;复杂的;令人费解的 The book begins with a long, tortuous introduction. 这本书的开头是一篇冗长、晦涩的前言。tortuously adverb
Examples from the Corpus
tortuousYour progress is slow and tortuous.The legal ramifications of the Hains case are tortuous.But it has been a tortuous and cumbersome journey.His rather tortuous explanation seems to come to this.Most of the villages are accessible only by boat or along tortuous jungle trails.a tortuous mountain trailIt took six months of tortuous negotiations to reach an agreement.At last, an end to the tortuous negotiations was in sight.They walked on, wandering through a warren of tortuous passageways where the noise and stench grasped Athelstan by the throat.It was a tortuous, switchback ride.The people came from Bosanska Gradiska, 35 miles away on a twisting, tortuous track through the Snake Mountains.a twisting, tortuous track through the Snake Mountains
Origin tortuous (1300-1400) Old French tortueux, from Latin tortuosus, from tortus; → TORTURE1
tor·tu·ous adjectiveChineseSyllable
has a stream, tortuous a path, etc road Corpus


tortuous
tortuous /ˈtɔːtʃuəs $ ˈtɔːr-/ adjective
 Date: 1300-1400
 Language: Old French
 Origin: tortueux, from Latin tortuosus, from tortus; torture1
1. a tortuous path, stream, road etc has a lot of bends in it and is therefore difficult to travel along:
    a tortuous path over the mountains to Kandahar
2. complicated and long and therefore confusing:
    The book begins with a long, tortuous introduction.
—tortuously adverb


tor·tu·ousBrE /ˈtɔːtʃuəs/ 🔊NAmE /ˈtɔːrtʃuəs/ 🔊 adjective [usually before noun] (formal) (usually disapproving) not simple and direct; long, complicated and difficult to understand 拐弯抹角的;含混不清的;冗长费解的 SYN convoluted tortuous language含混不清的语言the long, tortuous process of negotiating peace漫长而曲折的和平谈判过程(of a road, path, etc. 道路、小径等) full of bends 弯弯曲曲的;逶迤的;蜿蜒的 SYN winding tor·tu·ous·ly BrE /ˈtɔːtʃuəsli/ 🔊NAmE /ˈtɔːrtʃuəsli/ 🔊 adverb