Dictionary

labyrinthine en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪn.θɪn/ (General-American)
• /ˌlab.əˈɹɪn.θʌɪn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪnˌθin/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌlæb.əˈɹɪnˌθaɪn/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From labyrinth + -ine from Ancient Greek λᾰβύρῐνθος (lăbúrĭnthos, “a maze”).

Meanings

1. Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • 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:
2. Relating to the labyrinth of the inner ear.
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:
   • 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:

Forms

Deriveds

labyrinthine artery · nonlabyrinthine · translabyrinthine · labyrinthinely · retrolabyrinthine · perilabyrinthine · intralabyrinthine

Relateds

labyrinthiform · labyrinthlike · labyrinthically · labyrinthean · labyrinthical · labyrinthial · labyrinthian · labyrinth · labyrinthic · labyrinthal · labyrinthed

Synonyms

labyrinthial · labyrinthical · labyrinthed · confusing · labyrinthic · baffling · labyrinthian · convoluted · labyrinthal · labyrinthean · labyrinthlike · labyrinthiform

Translations (36)

el λαβυρινθώδης (physically resembling a labyrinth) · es laberíntico (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · it labirintico (physically resembling a labyrinth) · ru тру́дный для понимания (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · fr labyrinthique (physically resembling a labyrinth) · fi rönsyilevä (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · sv labyrintisk (physically resembling a labyrinth) · ru запутанный (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · ca laberíntic (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · vo labürenik (physically resembling a labyrinth) · pt labiríntico (physically resembling a labyrinth) · cmn 迷路的 (relating to the inner ear) · ru лабиринтообразный (physically resembling a labyrinth) · it labirintico (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · nl ingewikkeld (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · sv förvillande (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · el δαιδαλώδης (physically resembling a labyrinth) · sv labyrintisk (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · nl labyrintisch (physically resembling a labyrinth) · de labyrinthartig (physically resembling a labyrinth) · fi monimutkainen (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · ru мудрёный (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · ru сло́жный (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · pl labiryntowy (physically resembling a labyrinth) · fi labyrinttimäinen (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · nl doolhofachtig (physically resembling a labyrinth) · fi sekava (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · fi sokkeloinen (physically resembling a labyrinth) · hi पेचीदा (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · ca laberíntic (physically resembling a labyrinth) · nl labyrintachtig (physically resembling a labyrinth) · pt labiríntico (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · nl verwarrend (twisting, convoluted, baffling) · fi labyrinttikuvioinen (physically resembling a labyrinth) · it labirintico (relating to the inner ear) · es laberíntico (physically resembling a labyrinth)