tortuous

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɔːt͡ʃuːəs/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/ === Adjective === tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous) (often figurative) 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. (astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely. (obsolete) Injurious; tortious. ==== 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 (“constituting a civil wrong, or tort”), nor with torturous. A "tortuous process" is one that is overly complicated; a "torturous process" is one that is agonizing (or, hyperbolically, so annoying as to be painful). ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ====