labyrinthine
labyrinthine — adjective
- labyrinthinepositive
- more labyrinthinecomparative
- most labyrinthinesuperlative
1. extremely complicated and full of twists and turns, like a maze with many confus
extremely complicated and full of twists and turns, like a maze with many confusing paths, so that people find it very hard to understand or move through it
The ancient castle had a labyrinthine network of secret passages and hidden rooms.
collocation: labyrinthine network
Femi found the labyrinthine tax forms so confusing that he hired an accountant.
find + [noun] + [adjective] structure
The city's labyrinthine one-way streets confused every visitor who tried to drive through it.
Navigating the labyrinthine university bureaucracy took Sora four weeks to get a simple form signed.
Tara found the novel's labyrinthine plot hard to follow and took notes on each character.
- intricate
less negative than labyrinthine; suggests impressive detail rather than frustrating confusion
- convoluted
more negative; emphasises unnecessary complexity and lack of clarity, especially in writing or speech
- tangled
more concrete; often used for physical objects (wires, hair) but also figuratively for situations
- mazy
rare and literary; directly compares to a maze, similar to labyrinthine but less common
- simple
direct opposite; easy to understand or follow
- straightforward
emphasises lack of difficulty or confusion in a process
用法筆記
Commonly describes systems, processes, buildings, or stories that are unnecessarily complex. Less common in everyday conversation than in formal or written English.