tortuosityn.
/tɔːtjuːˈɒsɪti/ The quality or condition of being tortuous; twistedness, crookedness, sinuosity; an instance of this.
1.
a. literal: cf. tortuous adj. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > series of curves > [noun] > winding curve(s) > quality or condition
sinuosity1597
tortuosity1603
flexuosity1611
flexure1628
sinuousness1684
windingness1730
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 686 The tortuositie of the bodie and branches.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Tortuosity,..a winding, or crooking in and out.
1793 R. Mylne Rep. Surv. Thames improving Navigation 40 The crookedness or tortuosity of its course.
1851 W. S. Landor Popery xiv. 42 A thread which has long been twisted carries with it when untwisted the tortuosity of its entanglement.
1887 Proc. Royal Geog. Soc. Apr. 253 The extreme tortuosity of the river Yang-tsze.
b. Geometry: see quot. 1867, and cf. tortuous adj. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > [noun] > action or process
effectiona1652
retrogression1704
genesis1706
construction of equations1728
trace1834
tortuosity1867
quadrature1911
surgery1961
1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. i. §7 There are not two curvatures, but only a curvature..of which the plane is continuously changing... The course of such a curve is, in common language, well called ‘tortuous’; and the measure of the corresponding property is conveniently called Tortuosity.
1898 A. N. Whitehead Treat. Universal Algebra 131 A curve locus of any order of tortuosity.
2. figurative. Mental or moral crookedness: cf. tortuous adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > corruption > [noun]
rusteOE
vice1297
corrumpciona1340
infectiona1398
corruptiona1400
foulinga1400
viciousness1440
inquination1447
turpitude1490
intoxicationa1513
pravitya1513
bracery1540
insincerity1548
corruptness1561
sophistication1564
faultiness1571
depravation1577
base-mindedness1582
mangling1585
reprobacy1591
uninnocence1593
vitiosity1603
turkessing1612
reprobancea1616
debauchedness1618
tortuosity1621
depravedness1623
deboistness1628
debauchness1640
depravity1646
corruptedness1648
moral turpitude1660
unprincipledness1792
demoralization1797
erosion1804
miscreancy1804
trituration1832
unwholesomeness1881
ne'er-do-wellism1891
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > crookedness > [noun]
crookednessc1380
deformityc1400
turningnessa1586
indirectiona1616
obliquitya1620
curvity1620
tortuosity1621
indirectness1628
unsinglenessa1658
unstraightness1693
tortuousness1824
underhandedness1884
society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > lack of straightforwardness or uprightness
crookednessc1380
turningnessa1586
indirectiona1616
obliquitya1620
curvity1620
tortuosity1621
indirectness1628
unuprightnessa1680
unstraightness1693
deviousness1727
tortuousness1824
obliqueness1877
1621 T. Granger Familiar Expos. Eccles. ii. 14. 63 Hee discerneth the vprightnesse of godlinesse, and the tortuosity of wickednesse.
1767 A. Campbell Lexiphanes 60 To convict him of the tortuosity of his imaginary rectitude.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I ccviii. 107 Led by some tortuosity of mind.
1851 Fraser's Mag. 44 336 The charge of deliberate tortuosity of action and double-dealing.
3. with a and plural. An instance of this, or something that exemplifies it; a twisted or crooked object, a twist, turn, winding.
a. literal: cf. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > series of curves > [noun] > winding curve(s) > thing having
windingc1050
tortuosity1646
vermiculation1670
worm1702
crinkum-crankum1766
wriggle1825
serpentine1885
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. v. 239 That tortuosity or complicated nodosity we usually call the Navell. View more context for this quotation
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. (1856) xvii. 131 The linear distance, including tortuosities, is but three hundred miles.
b. figurative: cf. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [noun] > complexity
involution1820
tortuosity1837
trickiness1885
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 109 Sin is said to be a Tortuositie or wresting of the Law.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 122. ⁋3 The tortuosities of imaginary rectitude.
1837 T. Carlyle in London & Westm. Rev. Jan. 403 The strangest of styles..distracted into tortuosities, dislocations.
1856 J. Doran Knights & their Days viii. 126 In tracing the tortuosities of this chivalric romance.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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