tortuous

1. (often figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.Examples: "The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick."; "The Southern acquired them because the little Class "B4" 0-4-0 tanks were finding heavy modern rolling stock more and more of a handful, and at war's end the railway had nothing of suitable power but short wheelbase on its books to take their place on the more tortuous of the dock lines."; "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."figurativelyoften

2. (astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.Examples: "Infortunate ascendent tortuous."

3. (obsolete) Injurious; tortious.obsolete