Usage Note: Although tortuous and torturous both come from the Latin word torquÄre, to twist, their primary meanings are distinct. Tortuous means twisting (a tortuous road) or by extension complex or devious. Torturous refers primarily to torture and the pain associated with it. However, torturous also can be used in the sense of twisted, strained, belabored and tortured is an even stronger synonym: a tortured analogy.