First recorded in 1350–1400.
Comes via Middle English from the Latin word tortuōsus, which derives from the verb torquēre, “to twist, bend.”
Sign up for more Word of the Day!

\r\nEXAMPLES OF TORTUOUS\r\n

The tortuous road through the mountains made for a challenging but scenic drive.
The author's writing style was known for its elegant prose and tortuous plot twists.

\r\nIt's National Poetry Month, and we’ve created a challenge that really is for everyone. Submit now!","audio":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/T03/T0390200.mp3","definitions":[{"partofspeech":"adjective","data":"full of twists, turns, or bends; twisting, winding, or crooked."}],"examples":[],"imageUrl":"https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/tortuous_IG.png","accentColor":"#0063D7"}},"status":"succeeded"}},"meta":{"requestId":"RkUX2PmQaPQq_MZHfHHx9","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchWordsNearby/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"before":[{"slug":"carlisle","entry":"Carlisle"},{"slug":"carlist","entry":"Carlist"},{"slug":"carlita","entry":"Carlita"},{"slug":"carload","entry":"carload"},{"slug":"carlos","entry":"Carlos"}],"after":[{"slug":"carlota","entry":"Carlota"},{"slug":"carlotta","entry":"Carlotta"},{"slug":"carlovingian","entry":"Carlovingian"},{"slug":"carlow","entry":"Carlow"},{"slug":"carlsbad","entry":"Carlsbad"}]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"carlos-de-austria"},"requestId":"d2hG7rdW-veUUc8aFYefH","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"luna/fetchExampleSentences/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"tdb":[],"gbg":[]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"carlos-de-austria"},"requestId":"M_9zlylV_NUjNaovcEvZL","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchDictionaryResults/fulfilled","payload":{"slugs":[{"entries":[{"__typename":"Entry","audioPronunciations":[{"mpeg":"https://nonprod-audio.dictionary.com/C01/C0153700/C0153700.mp3"}],"confusableNotes":[],"genderNotes":[],"grammarNotes":[],"headword":{"displayForm":"Carlos de Austria","slug":"carlos-de-austria"},"idioms":[],"orderKey":99999010,"ordinal":10,"origin":null,"partOfSpeechBlock":[{"definitions":[{"antonymsConnection":{"edges":[]},"definitionSetChunks":"[{\"text\": \"Don\", \"type\": \"name\"}, {\"type\": \"pronunciation_set\", \"punc\": \"comma\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-5304\", \"pronunciationGroupChunks\": [{\"type\": \"pronunciation_group\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-5303\", \"ipaChunks\": [{\"text\": \"d\\u0254n\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-5302\"}], \"spellChunks\": [{\"text\": \"dawn\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}]}, {\"text\": \"1545\\u201368,\", \"type\": \"date\"}, {\"type\": \"def\", \"children\": [{\"text\": \"eldest son of Philip II of Spain: died during imprisonment for conspiracy against his father.\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}]","examples":[],"ordinal":1,"subdefinitions":[],"synonymsConnection":{"edges":[]}}],"inflectionSets":[],"labelSet":null,"ordinal":1,"partOfSpeech":"noun"}],"pronunciationNotes":[],"pronunciationSet":{"pronunciationSetChunk":"{\"type\": \"pronunciation_set\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-5316\", \"pronunciationGroupChunks\": [{\"type\": \"pronunciation_group\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-5315\", \"ipaChunks\": [{\"text\": \"\\u02c8k\\u0251r l\\u0254s \\u00f0\\u025b \\u02c8a\\u028as tri\\u02cc\\u0251\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.4a15\"}], \"spellChunks\": [{\"text\": \"kahr\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.4a17\"}, {\"text\": \"-laws \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"th\", \"type\": \"emphasis\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.4a19\"}, {\"text\": \"e \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"ous\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.4a1a\"}, {\"text\": \"-t\", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"r\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.4a1b\"}, {\"text\": \"ee-ah\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}]}"},"relatedFormSets":[],"sensitiveNotes":[],"spellingNotes":[],"synonymStudy":[],"usageAlerts":[],"usageNotes":[],"variants":[],"verbPhrases":[]}],"url":"carlos-de-austria"}]},"meta":{"arg":{"slug":"carlos-de-austria"},"requestId":"gP84d5_sbnW_g0LFyfAL8","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchResultsData/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"url":"carlos-de-austria","displayForm":"Carlos de Austria","canonicalSlug":"carlos-de-austria","content":[{"source":"luna","entries":[{"id":"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e5f8a6e.-531a","type":"normal","entry":"Carlos de Austria","entrySyllabified":"Car·los de Aus·tri·a","entryVariants":[],"homograph":null,"pronunciation":{"ipa":"ˈkɑr lɔs ðɛ ˈaʊs triˌɑ ","spell":"kahr-lawsthe ous-tree-ah ","audio":{"audio/ogg":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/lunawav/C01/C0153700.ogg","audio/mpeg":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/C01/C0153700.mp3"}},"predefinitionContent":"","posBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"order":1,"type":"simple","predefinitionContent":"Don

[dawn], /dɔn/, 1545–68,","postdefinitionContent":"","definition":"eldest son of Philip II of Spain: died during imprisonment for conspiracy against his father.","synonyms":"","antonyms":"","cites":[]}],"pos":"noun","posSupplementaryInfo":""}],"origin":null,"originData":null,"supplementaryNotes":[],"variantForms":[],"variantSpellings":[],"referenceData":[],"relatedForms":[],"confusables":[]}]}],"nearbyWordOrdinal":25465,"index-rank-01":["carlos de austria"],"index-rank-02":[],"index-rank-03":[],"index-rank-04":["carlos de austria's"],"index-rank-05":[],"index-rank-06":["don carlos de austria"],"index-rank-07":[],"index-rank-08":[],"index-rank-09":[],"index-rank-10":[],"index-rank-11":[],"index-rank-12":[],"index-rank-13":[],"index-rank-14":[],"index-rank-15":[],"tunaSlug":null,"isFeaturedMetaSlug":false}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"carlos-de-austria"},"requestId":"oxSzjmv1grdQQ_vxppQ_C","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchSpellSuggestions/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"luna":["Carlos","clos","callose","callous","caulis","Carlow","Callas","Calles","callus","Calais","Carlist","Carlota","Close","carload","close","Carla","Corliss","callais","Carlson","carolus","Caló","Carl","calesa","carl","Caruso","Cardoso","Charles","Glos","carious","carnose","carnous","parlous","gallous","gallows","Arles","Palos","Talos","aulos","cards","crios","Callow","Laclos","callow","Quarles","calci-","-colous","gals.","C.Cls.","-carpous"],"tuna":["cals","callous","callus","close","coals","carps","cars","colors","carious","parlous","coulis","gallows","cares","carus","girls","car loan","cables","callow","caress","caries","call on"],"lunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"Carlos","slug":"carlos"},{"displayForm":"clos","slug":"clos"},{"displayForm":"callose","slug":"callose"},{"displayForm":"callous","slug":"callous"},{"displayForm":"caulis","slug":"caulis"},{"displayForm":"Carlow","slug":"carlow"},{"displayForm":"Callas","slug":"callas"},{"displayForm":"Calles","slug":"calles"},{"displayForm":"callus","slug":"callus"},{"displayForm":"Calais","slug":"calais"},{"displayForm":"Carlist","slug":"carlist"},{"displayForm":"Carlota","slug":"carlota"},{"displayForm":"Close","slug":" but no cigar"},{"displayForm":"carload","slug":"carload"},{"displayForm":"close","slug":"close"},{"displayForm":"Carla","slug":"carla"},{"displayForm":"Corliss","slug":"corliss"},{"displayForm":"callais","slug":"callais"},{"displayForm":"Carlson","slug":"carlson"},{"displayForm":"carolus","slug":"carolus"},{"displayForm":"Caló","slug":"calo"},{"displayForm":"Carl","slug":"carl"},{"displayForm":"calesa","slug":"calesa"},{"displayForm":"carl","slug":"carl"},{"displayForm":"Caruso","slug":"caruso"},{"displayForm":"Cardoso","slug":"cardoso"},{"displayForm":"Charles","slug":"charles"},{"displayForm":"Glos","slug":"glos"},{"displayForm":"carious","slug":"carious"},{"displayForm":"carnose","slug":"carnose"},{"displayForm":"carnous","slug":"carnous"},{"displayForm":"parlous","slug":"parlous"},{"displayForm":"gallous","slug":"gallous"},{"displayForm":"gallows","slug":"gallows"},{"displayForm":"Arles","slug":"arles"},{"displayForm":"Palos","slug":"palos"},{"displayForm":"Talos","slug":"talos"},{"displayForm":"aulos","slug":"aulos"},{"displayForm":"cards","slug":"cards"},{"displayForm":"crios","slug":"crios"},{"displayForm":"Callow","slug":"callow"},{"displayForm":"Laclos","slug":"laclos"},{"displayForm":"callow","slug":"callow"},{"displayForm":"Quarles","slug":"quarles"},{"displayForm":"calci-","slug":"calci-"},{"displayForm":"-colous","slug":"-colous"},{"displayForm":"gals.","slug":"gals"},{"displayForm":"C.Cls.","slug":"c-cls"},{"displayForm":"-carpous","slug":"-carpous"}],"tunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"cals","slug":"cals"},{"displayForm":"callous","slug":"callous"},{"displayForm":"callus","slug":"callus"},{"displayForm":"close","slug":"close"},{"displayForm":"coals","slug":"coals"},{"displayForm":"carps","slug":"carps"},{"displayForm":"cars","slug":"cars"},{"displayForm":"colors","slug":"colors"},{"displayForm":"carious","slug":"carious"},{"displayForm":"parlous","slug":"parlous"},{"displayForm":"coulis","slug":"coulis"},{"displayForm":"gallows","slug":"gallows"},{"displayForm":"cares","slug":"cares"},{"displayForm":"carus","slug":"carus"},{"displayForm":"girls","slug":"girls"},{"displayForm":"car loan","slug":"car%20loan"},{"displayForm":"cables","slug":"cables"},{"displayForm":"callow","slug":"callow"},{"displayForm":"caress","slug":"caress"},{"displayForm":"caries","slug":"caries"},{"displayForm":"call on","slug":"call%20on"}]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"carlos-de-austria"},"requestId":"dDZKjJQKJzljV-_nPa-_m","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}}]},"actionData":null,"errors":null}

Carlos de Austria

noun

Word of the Day