sinuous
Americanadjective
-
having many curves, bends, or turns; winding.
a sinuous path.
- Synonyms:
- serpentine
- Antonyms:
- straight
-
indirect; devious.
sinuous questions.
- Synonyms:
- roundabout
- Antonyms:
- direct
-
characterized by a series of graceful curving motions.
a sinuous dance.
-
Botany. sinuate, as a leaf.
adjective
-
full of turns or curves; intricate
-
devious; not straightforward
-
supple; lithe
Other Word Forms
- sinuously adverb
- sinuousness noun
- subsinuous adjective
- unsinuous adjective
- unsinuously adverb
- unsinuousness noun
Etymology
Origin of sinuous
From the Latin word sinuōsus, dating back to 1570–80. See sinus, -ous
Explanation
Sinuous means winding or curvy. If you get lost on a sinuous mountain path, you'll need a compass or a GPS to figure out which direction leads back to camp. The adjective sinuous comes from the Latin word sinus, which means to curve or bend. If you have a sinuous body, then you have lots of curves. Snakes use sinuous movements to travel. Live Oak trees have particularly sinuous branches. We usually use sinuous to talk about physical shapes of bodies or pathways, but you could also describe someone's logic as sinuous if it wanders all over the place when they're trying to explain something.
Vocabulary lists containing sinuous
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The Giver
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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.
Yet where that film’s sinuous sculpting of time is marvelously sly and organic, “Blue Heron” always feels a little too carefully mapped out to achieve a similarly breathtaking effect.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Choi weaves long, sinuous sentences, teasing out the aftermath of Serk’s presumed death.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2025
Released just in time for Pride month in 2023, the slinky, sinuous club anthem became an unexpected viral smash.
From BBC • Oct. 9, 2024
The first thing you notice about an Ernie Barnes painting will be the distinctively sinuous way he renders human beings.
From New York Times • May 30, 2024
His fierce eye gazed out across the mighty army: black rats, brown rats, grey rats, piebald rats, skulking weasels, furtive stoats and sinuous ferrets, all gathered round, their weapons glistening and dripping with the rain.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
