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Crooked vs Tortuous - What's the difference?

crooked | tortuous | Related terms |

Crooked is a related term of tortuous.


As adjectives the difference between crooked and tortuous

is that crooked is not straight; having one or more bends or angles while tortuous is twisted; having many turns; convoluted.

As a verb crooked

is (crook).

crooked

English

Etymology 1

From crook, equivalent to .

Verb

(head)
  • (crook)

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) croked, crokid, past participle of . More at (l).

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not straight; having one or more bends or angles.
    • We walked up the crooked path to the top of the hill.
  • Set at an angle; not vertical or square.
    • That picture is crooked - could you straighten it up for me?
  • (figuratively) Dishonest or illegal; corrupt.
    • He was trying to interest me in another one of his crooked deals.

    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 .