Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characterized by many curves or turns; winding.
  • adjective Characterized by supple and lithe movements.
  • adjective Sinuate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sinuate; tortuous; serpentine; full of curves, bends, or turns; undulating.
  • Morally crooked; deviating from right.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Bending in and out; of a serpentine or undulating form; winding; crooked.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having curves in alternate directions; meandering.
  • adjective Moving gracefully and supplely.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective curved or curving in and out

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin sinuōsus, from sinus, curve.]

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Examples

  • This collection takes the somatic marks of classicism: the curved, the leg, the serigraphy on the crystals and changes them in sinuous shapes, gentle and modern, joining them to perfection.

    Modern Wall-Mounted Bathroom Vanity Cabinets 2010

  • Or how about neon that followed the contours of natural objects, such as trees or rocks, in sinuous organic shapes, as part of the Queen's garden?

    The Allure of Hot Glass Heather McDougal 2007

  • Wreathed attractively in sinuous tendrils of aromatic smoke we discussed the infringement of property rights, the misrepresentation of passive smoking and the bovine passivity of the nation confronted with this outrage.

    Light Up Fair Albion Newmania 2007

  • Wreathed attractively in sinuous tendrils of aromatic smoke we discussed the infringement of property rights, the misrepresentation of passive smoking and the bovine passivity of the nation confronted with this outrage.

    Archive 2007-07-29 Newmania 2007

  • Or how about neon that followed the contours of natural objects, such as trees or rocks, in sinuous organic shapes, as part of the Queen's garden?

    Archive 2007-08-01 Heather McDougal 2007

  • While it looks very artificial with limited aperture and possibly like it could have been formed by a glancing blow from a small asteroid, it's actually a volcanic/tectonic feature called a sinuous rille.

    Santa Spied at Lunar North Pole… | Universe Today 2009

  • When it was over and they'd gone -- the fat woman again somehow managing a gait which could only be called sinuous -- Bors said abruptly, "What's this event you know of, a year ahead?"

    Talents, Incorporated Murray Leinster 1935

  • And it is still more remarkable that those young ladies were "got up" in the same style, and apparently aimed at much the same effects of line and movement, as those which have become the latest fashion in Paris, and may be described as sinuous and serpentine.

    More Science From an Easy Chair 1888

  • And the way he played the guitar, he was able to get that kind of sinuous vibrato that creates this texture and bed of melodic fragments laid on top of each other - perfect for a string quartet like Turtle Island.

    Turtle Island Quartet Re-Imagine Jimi Hendrix, With Strings 2010

  • And the way he played the guitar, he was able to get that kind of sinuous vibrato that creates this texture and bed of melodic fragments laid on top of each other - perfect for a string quartet like Turtle Island.

    Turtle Island Quartet Re-Imagine Jimi Hendrix, With Strings 2010

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