labyrinthine
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌlab.əˈɹɪn.θʌɪn/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪn.θɪn/, /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪnˌθaɪn/, /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪnˌθin/
- Rhymes: -ɪnθaɪn, -ɪnθɪn, -ɪnθiːn
Adjective
labyrinthine (comparative more labyrinthine, superlative most labyrinthine)
- Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
- 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, volume 14, number 158, page 670:
- 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.
- 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:
- In the pyloric canal, muscular ridges are more fixed than elsewhere and produce quite a labyrinthine surface.
- 2011, Lincoln Child, Deep Storm, section 29, page 185:
- Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.
- (anatomy) Relating to the labyrinth of the inner ear.
- Synonyms: labyrinthal, labyrinthial, labyrinthian, labyrinthic, labyrinthical, labyrinthiform
- (figurative) Convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.
- Synonyms: baffling, confusing, convoluted
- 1996 September 13, Roger Ebert, “American Buffalo movie review (1996)”, in Roger Ebert:
- 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.
- 2000, Joseph Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, page 51:
- Any attempt to answer that question would carry us into the labyrinthine corridors of Jefferson's famously elusive mind.
- 2005, Michael W. Riley, Plato's Cratylus: Argument, Form, and Structure, page 103:
- 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.
- 2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chapter 12, in God, Human, Animal, Machine […] , →ISBN:
- 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.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
physically resembling a labyrinth
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relating to the inner ear
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twisting, convoluted, baffling
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References
- “labyrinthine”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “labyrinthine”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
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