sinuous
adjective
Did you know?
Although it probably makes you think more of snakes than head colds, sinuous is etymologically more like sinus than serpent. Sinuous and sinus both derive from the Latin noun sinus, which means "curve, fold, or hollow." Other sinus descendants include insinuate ("to impart or suggest in an artful or indirect way") and two terms you might remember from math class: sine and cosine. In English, sinus is the oldest of these words; it entered the language in the 1400s. Insinuate appeared next, in the early 1500s, and was followed by sinuous and sine in the latter half of the 1500s, and cosine in the 1600s. Serpent, by the way, entered English in the 13th century and comes from the Latin verb serpere, meaning "to creep."
Examples of sinuous in a Sentence
Michael Salerno, AZCentral.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Dally a while at a Smithville park While the Railroad Park and Museum conforms to the linear pattern of the nearby set of railroad tracks — reduced from historical numbers — many of the other parks in Smithville follow the sinuous curves of the Colorado River.
—Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
The ensemble featured a crisp white, long-sleeve jacket with sinuous lapels.
—Julia Teti, Footwear News, 29 May 2025
The reader’s path is equally murky, as Lispector navigates the sinuous contours of Lóri’s psyche.
—Terry Nguyen
july 23, Literary Hub, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for sinuous
Cite this Entry
“Sinuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sinuous. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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