[syn: Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Convoluted \Con"vo*lu`ted\, a.
1. Having convolutions.
[1913 Webster]
beaks recurved and convoluted like a ram's horn.
--Pennant.
[1913 Webster]
2. Folded in tortuous windings.
[1913 Webster]
A highly convoluted brain. --North Amer.
Rev.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
coiled \coiled\ (koild), adj.
curled or wound especially in concentric rings or spirals;
as, a coiled snake ready to strike; the rope lay coiled on
the deck. Opposite of uncoiled.
Note: [Narrower terms: coiling, helical, spiral, spiraling,
volute, voluted, whorled; convolute rolled
longitudinally upon itself;curled, curled up;
involute closely coiled so that the axis is
obscured); looped, whorled; twined, twisted;
convoluted; involute, rolled esp of petals or leaves
in bud: having margins rolled inward); wound]
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
convoluted
adj 1: rolled longitudinally upon itself; "a convolute petal"
[syn: convolute, convoluted]
2: highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the
Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on
to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language";
"convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a
knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering";
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott;
"tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting
for months" [syn: Byzantine, convoluted, involved,
knotty, tangled, tortuous]