Labyrinthine
(pronounced lab-uh-rin-thin or lab-uh-rin-theen) adjective
Definition
resembling a labyrinth; intricate; complicated.
Other Forms
Labyrinth (pronounced lab-uh-rinth) noun
Definition: 1. a place containing an intricate combination of passages and blind alleys through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.
2. an arrangement or state of affairs that is highly complicated or involved; something extremely intricate or perplexing in character.
(Note: LABYRINTHIAN is identical to LABYRINTHINE in meaning and usage)
Main Example
- Finally, the blue-ribbon advisory panel on federal tax reforms has submitted its recommendations to the administration. But don't expect any immediate simplification of the existing tax code. Special interest groups will be fighting tooth and nail to preserve the numerous deductions--such as the one for mortgage interest--thus ensuring that Form 1040 and its various schedules will remain labyrinthine for quite some time.
Workplace Examples
- We are working expeditiously to get government approval for exporting our cutting edge, high-tech products to Asia. Our chief lobbyist in Washington is having to deal with not only the vast, labyrinthine tentacles of the Pentagon, but with several other federal departments as well.
- Did you hear that NPR report about somebody having posted on the Web what digits to punch if you want to cut through the labyrinth of voice mail options and quickly reach a live human voice at a credit card company or whatever?
Other Examples
- somebody saying: "The arrangement you are proposing is much too complicated. It's so labyrinthine! Nobody will understand it!"
- a labyrinth of a movie, thanks to its extremely complicated story line; the labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys in some of the bazaars of old cities such as Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Cairo; the labyrinth of formulas and conditions that determine if you have to pay alternative minimum tax
- a sharp lawyer finding a loophole in the labyrinthine law pertaining to a case; the labyrinthine rules of the U.S. Senate; the labyrinthine caves and tunnels in eastern Afghanistan's Tora Bora
- Enron getting away with fraud for years partly because its financial schemes and disclosures were so labyrinthine that Wall Street analysts couldn't comprehend them
