| 词组 | tortuous, torturous |
| 释义 | tortuous, torturous Commentators routinely warn against confusing these two words. The distinction to be made between them is that tortuous means chiefly "winding or twisted" and that torturous means "causing torture; excruciating." The main concern of the critics is that torturous should not be used in place of tortuous in such phrases as a tortuous path. Our evidence shows that such usage is rare in edited prose, but the offending torturous does sneak into print from time to time, and we suspect that it occurs fairly often in casual writing and speech. In some contexts torturous may appear to be taking the place of tortuous even when its intended meaning is actually "causing torture": • Ahead of the racers lay 1,946 miles of torturous mountain roads —Time, 1 Dec. 1952 Torturous may mean "twisting" here or it may mean "causing torture" or it may mean both. In any case, the writer might have done better to choose another adjective (perhaps murderous or harrowing), if only to avoid the appearance of confusion. One problem with trying to keep tortuous and torturous distinct is that they are close relatives. Both words are derived ultimately from the Latin tortus, participle of the verb meaning "twist," and both words have strong ties with torture, which itself can describe not only torment but also twisting or distortion (as in "tortured reasoning"). Tortuous is, in general, a far more common word than torturous. It is especially common in extended uses, in most of which it can be defined either as "exceedingly complex or involved" or "deviously indirect or tricky": • ... pursued a tortuous policy in his testimony, disclosing this piece of evidence and withholding that —Rebecca West, Atlantic, June 1952 • ... tortuous intrigues had at last brought him to the highest office —William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1960 • ... the ways of the Legislature are slow and tortuous —John Deedy, Commonweal, 30 Jan. 1970 • I wish I did not find this explanation so tortuous — Mary Gordon, Saturday Rev., 14 Apr. 1979 But extreme complexity can sometimes be a kind of torture, and tortuous, while its denotation may be "twisted" or "complex," does in some contexts have connotations of torment as well: • ... the tortuous procedures that make up our criminal-justice system —John Sansing, The Washing-tonian, October 1978 Likewise torturous can have connotations of extreme— or excruciating—complexity: • ... today's dazzling landscape of higher education, with its vast mushroom fields of crowded campuses, its torturous selection processes, its maniacal pressures on the tender young —Tom Wicker, Change, September 1971 • ... This May Be The Most Torturous Puzzle You've Ever Grappled With —advt., New Yorker, 31 Mar. 1986 What this means is that the two words can and do appear in similar contexts. Our evidence shows, however, that the basic distinction in their meanings favored by the critics, especially as it relates to such phrases as a tortuous path, is in fact observed by most writers. Here are a few more examples of tortuous and torturous in their distinct senses: • The river follows a tortuous course —A. H. J. Prins, The Coastal Tribes of the North-Eastern Bantu, 1952 • Weary and depressed after his torturous afternoon —Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated, 31 Jan. 1983 • ... on the tortuous, corkscrew roads —Ronald Sullivan, N.Y. Times, 8 Jan. 1984 • ... found the strength and courage to survive torturous inquisitions —Booklist, 1 Nov. 1984 |
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