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Byzantine vs Tortuous - What's the difference?

byzantine | tortuous |

As adjectives the difference between byzantine and tortuous

is that byzantine is while tortuous is twisted; having many turns; convoluted.

As a noun byzantine

is (historical) a byzant (coin).

byzantine

English

Alternative forms

* byzantine

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Overly complex or intricate.
    • a Byzantine system of regulations
  • Of or pertaining to Byzantium.
  • of a devious, usually stealthy manner, of practice.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare) A native of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul)
  • (history) Belonging to the civilization of the Eastern Roman empire between 331, when its capital was moved to Constantinople, and 1453, when that capital was conquered by the Turks and ultimately renamed Istanbul.
  • (coin)

    • tortuous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.
  • * 2007 October 6, “Slogging on the Home Front”, editorial in ,
    • 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.
  • (obsolete) injurious; tortious
  • (astrology) oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely
  • * Skeat
    • Infortunate ascendent tortuous .

    Usage notes

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