tortuous

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman, from Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔːt͡ʃuːəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/

tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)

1. (often figuratively) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.
   • 2007 October 6, “Slogging on the Home Front”, editorial in The New York Times,

     It still takes almost half a year for the average veteran’s claim for disability benefits to be decided in a tortuous process that can involve four separate hearings.

   • Macaulay

     The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.

2. (astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.
   • Skeat

     Infortunate ascendent tortuous.

3. (obsolete) Injurious; tortious.

• This term has strongly negative connotations, perhaps transferred from the similar-sounding adjective torturous.
• Not to be confused with the legal term tortious.