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
-
The complicated and delicate efforts to rescue the 12-15 meter (39-49 feet) whale off a sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand beach earlier this week captivated Germans — with media sending news alerts of updates on its progress and streaming live video from the scene.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Readers send Miss Manners not only their table and party questions, but those involving the more complicated aspects of life - romance, work, family relationships, child-rearing, death - as well as philosophical and moral dilemmas.—
Judith Martin,
Dallas Morning News,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
There are 70 structures to explore, and what sets it apart from sites such as Angkor Wat is the construction techniques – the Cham people used red bricks decorated with intricate carvings, and historians have failed to work out how these bricks were fired.—
Tamara Hinson,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Mar. 2026
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Because of their intricate root systems, mangroves are uniquely resilient to the waves and wind from storms.—
Ryan Kellman,
NPR,
27 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
-
Research also suggests that state and federal gas taxes are just one component of a complex pricing scheme that includes the global price of oil and other factors, the group said.—
Matthew Daly,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Mar. 2026
-
The scandal is now expanding into an international investigation, placing Miami at the center of a complex web of shell companies, offshore transfers and opaque financial flows.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
During this time, civilization saw the emergence of more sophisticated tools, such as those made of bone, ivory, and antlers, according to Britannica.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Typically, drones navigate using a combination of sensors, cameras, controllers, a power source, and sophisticated algorithms that interpret environmental data to make decisions.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Byzantine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/byzantine. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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