labyrinthine
adjUK /ˌlab.əˈɹɪn.θʌɪn/ · US /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪn.θɪn/
Etymology From labyrinth + -ine from Ancient Greek λᾰβύρῐνθος (lăbúrĭnthos, “a maze”).
1
Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
- As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, volume 14, number 158, page 670:
- In the pyloric canal, muscular ridges are more fixed than elsewhere and produce quite a labyrinthine surface.1996, Venkataraman Srinivasan, André Dubois, “Non-Human Primates”, in Steen Lindkær Jensen, Hans Gregerson, Mohammad Hosein Shokouh-Amin, Frank G. Moody, editors, Essentials of Experimental Surgery: Gastroenterology, page 27/4:
1 more example
- Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.2011, Lincoln Child, Deep Storm, section 29, page 185:
3
Figuratively Convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.
- Mamet, like one of his characters, invents a labyrinthine, convoluted spiel leading nowhere, and like a magician distracts us with his words while elaborately not producing a rabbit from his hat.1996 September 13, Roger Ebert, “American Buffalo movie review (1996)”, in Roger Ebert:
- Any attempt to answer that question would carry us into the labyrinthine corridors of Jefferson's famously elusive mind.2000, Joseph Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, page 51:
2 more examples
- By coupling "essence" with "name" within a series of contraposed pairs of names, Socrates indicates the point to which he thinks his labyrinthine argument has led so far in the Cratylus.2005, Michael W. Riley, Plato's Cratylus: Argument, Form, and Structure, page 103:
- Northrop Frye called the novel “a kind of ‘midrash’ on the book of Job,” one that reimagines the opaque nature of divine justice as a labyrinthine modern bureaucracy.2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chapter 12, in God, Human, Animal, Machine […] , →ISBN:
- Derived terms
- intralabyrinthine, labyrinthine artery, labyrinthinely, nonlabyrinthine, perilabyrinthine, retrolabyrinthine, translabyrinthine
- Related terms
- labyrinth, labyrinthal, labyrinthean, labyrinthed, labyrinthial, labyrinthian, labyrinthic, labyrinthical, labyrinthically, labyrinthiform, labyrinthlike