as in winding
marked by a long series of irregular curves
a tortuous mountain road marked by numerous hairpin turns
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Recent Examples of tortuous
Flying anywhere for the Thanksgiving holiday is likely to be tortuous for legions of travelers — even if the government shutdown ends today, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned today.
—
Jay Blackman, NBC news, 8 Nov. 2025
More recently, Geran variants painted black with special material to hide from radar fly higher and with tortuous routes to evade Ukrainian defense teams.
—David Brennan, ABC News, 1 Aug. 2025
The family would turn to the stacks of journals Greg left behind, which detailed his tortuous decline but left much unanswered.
—Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 24 July 2025
The development concludes a tortuous bargaining process that lasted longer than the term of the three-year contract.
—Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for tortuous
Jay Blackman, NBC news, 8 Nov. 2025
More recently, Geran variants painted black with special material to hide from radar fly higher and with tortuous routes to evade Ukrainian defense teams.
—David Brennan, ABC News, 1 Aug. 2025
The family would turn to the stacks of journals Greg left behind, which detailed his tortuous decline but left much unanswered.
—Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 24 July 2025
The development concludes a tortuous bargaining process that lasted longer than the term of the three-year contract.
—Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for tortuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tortuous
Adjective
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Chicago capped a winding season of exclamation-point football with its wild-card comeback against the archrival Green Bay Packers.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
18 Jan. 2026
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Old Town Albuquerque With its narrow, winding streets and adobe architecture, Old Town Albuquerque oozes small-town charm.—
Lauren Dana Ellman,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Aristotle was also among the first of his contemporaries to recognise that Earth was spherical, based on his observations of the curved shadow cast on the lunar surface during a lunar eclipse.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
25 Jan. 2026
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Each vine is planted at the bottom of its own crater and protected by a curved wall of lava stones.—
Emily Price,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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These tend to hate being bent or twisted, and are generally hostile to being implanted in living tissue.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Jan. 2026
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These cause broken wrists and twisted ankles.—
Jesse Pines,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Here’s how Najash taught herpetologists that serpentine body plans didn’t evolve in a straight line, from lizard to legless.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
17 Jan. 2026
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Hathaway also styled her hair with bold side bangs while modeling the serpentine gold jewelry.—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tortuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tortuous. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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