as in winding
marked by a long series of irregular curves
a tortuous mountain road marked by numerous hairpin turns
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tortuous
Homer’s poem tells of the Greek hero King Odysseus and his tortuous, 10-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
—
Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Feb. 2025
Advertisement The deal follows months of tortuous negotiations led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, with the Qataris regularly expressing frustration and threatening to walk away at one point.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2025
The pact follows months of tortuous, on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
—Andrew Mills, Nidal Al-Mughrabi, and Maayan Lubell, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Jan. 2025
Each has a tortuous history of friendship and enmity with Moscow, and both have faced obstacles in asserting independent statehood.
—Nicholas Waller, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2015
See All Example Sentences for tortuous
Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Feb. 2025
Advertisement The deal follows months of tortuous negotiations led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, with the Qataris regularly expressing frustration and threatening to walk away at one point.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2025
The pact follows months of tortuous, on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
—Andrew Mills, Nidal Al-Mughrabi, and Maayan Lubell, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Jan. 2025
Each has a tortuous history of friendship and enmity with Moscow, and both have faced obstacles in asserting independent statehood.
—Nicholas Waller, Foreign Affairs, 1 Apr. 2015
See All Example Sentences for tortuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tortuous
Adjective
-
Sedona Prince has had a winding journey toward the 2025 WNBA Draft, where she’s expected to finally join the league in April after a seven-year college odyssey.—
Sabreena Merchant,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025
-
The entry pathway is suspended over a pool of lotus flowers, followed by a mystical winding road shaded by the canopy (where a chase scene was filmed), and the open-air lobby which overlooks the resort’s statement design piece: a long pool filled with floating lotuses.—
Anna Haines,
Forbes,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
In an adjacent field lay the twisted and charred remains of ambulances.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2025
-
We're also introduced to Eleven’s twisted father figure, Dr. Brenner (Alex Breaux, taking on Matthew Modine's role from the series).—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Even after landing on the wrong side of the serpentine Soto saga, the Yanks tout a respectable lineup headlined by all-multiverse slugger Aaron Judge.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025
-
The title track, a suite of cosmic grandeur and dizzying time signatures, breathes deeper in this mix, with Chris Squire’s bass rumbling like tectonic shifts under Steve Howe’s serpentine guitar work.—
Darryn King,
Forbes,
15 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tortuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tortuous. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share