as in complicated
having many parts or aspects that are usually interrelated
spent his first year at the Pentagon just trying to fathom its byzantine workings
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Recent Examples of byzantine
The total fee required to launch my mother’s dress on this byzantine odyssey was seven thousand five hundred dollars.
—
Han Ong, New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2026
The layout is byzantine in part because Paramount bought the former rival RKO studio lot from Desilu Productions to create the lot known today.
—Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026
Enrigue is an erudite, charismatic raconteur—the sort who will tell you the most abject story with a wink—and his novel distills a byzantine swirl of historical events through the lives of a handful of very colorful characters.
—Carolina A. Miranda, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
The airline industry is a complex beast, and O’Hare is byzantine itself.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
Behind the scenes, Florida Division of Emergency Management officials had spent nearly half of last year navigating a byzantine process in an attempt to secure reimbursement for its immigration operations, according to the emails.
—Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2026
That’s because of the byzantine rules for local tax measures.
—Daniel Borenstein, Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2026
Frogposting, then, pits the intractably byzantine, soulless and cutthroat nature of the contemporary economy in a simple binary against what the posters envision as the green, healthy, naturalness of the Earth—framed as a joke, the base unit of online commentary.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2025
Though famously byzantine, these processes were created to ensure local control over development decisions.
—Nicole West Bassoff, The Conversation, 14 Nov. 2025
Han Ong, New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2026
The layout is byzantine in part because Paramount bought the former rival RKO studio lot from Desilu Productions to create the lot known today.
—Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026
Enrigue is an erudite, charismatic raconteur—the sort who will tell you the most abject story with a wink—and his novel distills a byzantine swirl of historical events through the lives of a handful of very colorful characters.
—Carolina A. Miranda, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
The airline industry is a complex beast, and O’Hare is byzantine itself.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
Behind the scenes, Florida Division of Emergency Management officials had spent nearly half of last year navigating a byzantine process in an attempt to secure reimbursement for its immigration operations, according to the emails.
—Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2026
That’s because of the byzantine rules for local tax measures.
—Daniel Borenstein, Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2026
Frogposting, then, pits the intractably byzantine, soulless and cutthroat nature of the contemporary economy in a simple binary against what the posters envision as the green, healthy, naturalness of the Earth—framed as a joke, the base unit of online commentary.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2025
Though famously byzantine, these processes were created to ensure local control over development decisions.
—Nicole West Bassoff, The Conversation, 14 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for byzantine
Adjective
-
Managing reputational risk is a complicated (and constant) obligation.—
Rick Burton,
Sportico.com,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Pegula hit five aces and never let the match settle into anything complicated.—
Noah Gulley,
Miami Herald,
21 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The exhibition opens with an intricate model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that Palestinian craftspeople in Bethlehem made of local materials including olive and pistachio wood, mother-of-pearl and camel bone.—
Sarah Kozlowski,
Dallas Morning News,
21 Mar. 2026
-
What emerged was a series of intricate, heady features whose ideas often came through more clearly than their sentiments.—
Holden Seidlitz,
New Yorker,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
These are common but complicate long-term planning for federal agencies.—
Hollie Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Sep. 2025
-
Despite differing views on a variety of security issues, the group, like Gilpatric’s, reached a clear consensus: nuclear proliferation by any additional country would diminish U.S. power, complicate strategic planning, and increase the likelihood of nuclear use, accidents, and disasters.—
MARIANO-FLORENTINO CUÉLLAR,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Today, the room hosts complex Lego sets in various states of completion, along with shelves of semi-functional robots and baskets of knitting filled with sweater fragments.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
20 Mar. 2026
-
United Nations Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the war, exposed the complex power reality inside Lebanon.—
Asher Kaufman,
The Conversation,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
But while the packaging and TikTok fame might skew young, the formulas themselves are no joke—Laneige has long focused on sophisticated hydration that leaves skin looking plump, smooth, and healthy.—
Christa Joanna Lee,
Allure,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Sharper tailoring and column dresses marked a move away from last year’s relaxed layering and flowing silhouettes, pointing toward more sophisticated styles and a focus on longevity.—
Mayu Saini,
Sourcing Journal,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Byzantine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/byzantine. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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