tortuous
Americanadjective
-
full of twists, turns, or bends; twisting, winding, or crooked.
a tortuous path.
- Synonyms:
- serpentine, sinuous, bent
-
not direct or straightforward, as in procedure or speech; circuitous.
tortuous negotiations lasting for months.
- Synonyms:
- indirect, roundabout, evasive
-
deceitfully indirect or morally crooked, as proceedings, methods, or policy; devious.
adjective
-
twisted or winding
a tortuous road
-
devious or cunning
a tortuous mind
-
intricate
Usage
What’s the difference between tortuous and torturous? Tortuous means winding or full of twists and turns, as in a tortuous path, but it can also be used in a more figurative way to mean indirect, convoluted, or even devious. Torturous is used to describe things that are painful or that cause suffering, as if they were a form of torture. Both words are adjectives, and their spellings are separated by only one letter—making their pronunciations very similar. Making things even more confusing is that there are some situations in which it could make sense to use either word. For example, a piece of writing that’s extremely hard to follow because of how unorganized it is could be described as both tortuous (because it’s so meandering) and torturous (because it’s like torture to read it). The best way to remember the difference is that torturous has a second r in it, just like its base word, torture. If you want to use the word tortuous in a piece of writing and you’re worried it might be confusing, you might be right! Luckily, there are plenty of alternative words that can be used in the same way, depending on what you mean, such as winding, meandering, circuitous, indirect, and convoluted. Here’s an example of tortuous and torturous used correctly in the same sentence. Example: Trying to follow the tortuous arguments in the meandering paper was torturous. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between tortuous and torturous.
Commonly Confused
See torturous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tortuous
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin tortuōsus, equivalent to tortu(s) “a twisting” ( torquēre “to twist, bend” + -tus suffix of verbal action) + -ōsus adjective suffix; see -ous
Explanation
Tortuous means twisting or complicated. "James Bond drove up a mountain road that was tortuous in its twists and turns. He had to stop the evil madman's plan for world domination, a plan so tortuous that even 007 himself could not understand it." From Latin torquere "to twist," tortuous means something with twists and turns –– a path, an argument, a story. It is important not to confuse it with torturous, which means characterized by great pain. "The contemporary string quartet was tortuous in its tonal shifts, but only torturous at the point where the violinist ran her nails up and down a chalkboard."
Vocabulary lists containing tortuous
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Twists and Turns: Tor
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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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.
Several chapters depict tortuous scenes from Gerry’s life as they play out in memory and on the page.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
He expects to feel a sense of freedom that always eluded him during his lengthy and often tortuous quest to land the famous green jacket.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
After a tortuous and contested process, a federal judge endorsed a roughly $6 billion bid by Amber.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
Which was tortuous because I’m like, “How do I recreate this thing that I didn’t even fully make myself?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025
Szilard’s views on the program he midwifed had traveled a tortuous path.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
