convoluted
Americanadjective
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twisted; coiled.
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complicated; intricately involved.
a convoluted way of describing a simple device.
adjective
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(esp of meaning, style, etc) difficult to comprehend; involved
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wound together; coiled
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of convoluted
Explanation
If something is convoluted, it's intricate and hard to understand. You'll need to read over your brother's convoluted investment scheme a few times before deciding whether or not to go in on it. Convoluted comes from the Latin convolutus for rolled up together. Its original meaning in English was exactly that, first for eaves coiled up on themselves, then for anything rolled or knotted together. Over time convoluted took on its metaphorical sense of complicated and intricate, which is how it's generally used today. People complain about convoluted legal language and the convoluted tax code.
Vocabulary lists containing convoluted
The Glass Castle
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"Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez
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The Color of Water
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The players made their way to the mission, which had the usual slightly convoluted rules that took Winkleman quite a while to explain.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Rom-coms and dance movies are often littered with convoluted circumstances, but “Shake Your Booty!” sabotages the heartfelt story it wants to tell about finding new love and learning to let go.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
From this welter of disorder, Ms. Mandel seamlessly engineers a pair of convoluted, Rube Goldberg-style plots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
After all, I’d never lay myself off, push any convoluted apps down my own throat, replace me with AI or let students use chatbots to supplant themselves.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
The syntax can be defective, convoluted, ambiguous; these are flaws that can be prevented by an awareness of the treelike nature of a sentence.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
