Tortuous or Torturous?
What is the difference between tortuous and torturous?
Tortuous is used to describe something with many twists and turns, like a country road or the plot of a book.
Tortuous is used to describe something with many twists and turns, like a country road or the plot of a book.
- It was difficult to drive on the tortuous road.
- The 14-hour flight to Sydney was torturous.
Tortuous
The adjective tortuous describes something with repeated twists or turns.Examples:
- In cities like Athens, poor houses lined narrow and tortuous streets in spite of luxurious public buildings.
(Stephen Gardiner) - The path to the referendum promises to be tortuous. (New York Times)
Torturous
The adjective torturous describes something that involves suffering or pain.Examples:
- Jealousy would be far less torturous if we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits. (Paul Eldridge)
- Life's experiences, whether they be torturous or excruciatingly wonderful, season you somehow and you learn from them. (Mel Gibson)
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