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Byzantine

(pronounced biz-un-teen or biz-un-tyn or bih-zan-tin)  adjective

Definition

1. highly complicated; intricate; involved.  2. marked by deviousness and intrigue; not straightforward; clandestine.

(Note: many spell checkers and dictionaries still suggest that byzantine be capitalized, but according to some of the newest dictionaries, non-capitalized use of this word is fine if it is not being used in reference to the ancient city of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire)

Main Example

• Just as the shock waves from the Bernie Madoff investment scam were beginning to peter out, there comes news that yet another money manager--R. Allen Stanford--has swindled investors out of billions of dollars. How come the SEC is not catching on to these big-time fraudsters? Partly because the SEC is understaffed and under-funded, and partly because the schemes being perpetrated by the likes of Madoff and Stanford are so byzantine that they are extremely hard to identify.

Workplace Examples

• Our accounts receivables are in an even more byzantine state than I could have imagined. I've just spent an entire week poring over all the files, but I still cannot figure out who owes what.
• No, I have no idea who'll represent us at the conference in Paris. The selection process for these plums is so byzantine, I've never understood it. Your guess is as good as mine.

Other Examples

• the byzantine wording in a contract driving you up the wall because it is so hard to decipher
• by taking advantage of a byzantine law, an astute lawyer transforming what appeared to be a weak case into an outright victory
• a CEO saying that his industry is "burdened by regulation of byzantine complexity"; the byzantine rules for claiming a tax deduction for the business use of your home; the byzantine mind of the Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi who reportedly helped plant false evidence in the CIA about Saddam's so-called WMDs
• some talking heads saying that because Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Vice President Joe Biden are so well versed in the byzantine ways of House and Senate politics respectively, they will be a big help in getting difficult legislation passed
• the byzantine structure of the debt-financing entities created by Enron's management to hide the company's true financial picture from Wall Street analysts

© 2009 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.