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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LABYRINTHINE

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pronounce LABYRINTHINE:

"Lab uh RIN thin."

Or, "lab uh RIN theen." Both ways are correct.
Your browser does not support the audio element.

connect this word to others:

Before we lose ourselves in the word labyrinthine, let's recall some other terms that derive from the same Greek myth!

1. Think of the guy who puts on some wings made of wax and feathers, ignores his dad's advice to avoid flying too close to the sun, and promptly falls to his death. His name gives us the proper adjective Ic___an, meaning "having stupidly high goals or unrealistically big dreams, without the skills or resources to pursue them, and likely to get themselves hurt in the process."

2. Now think of that guy's dad! The genius architect who designs the Labyrinth, as well as the wings for escaping it. His name gives us the proper adjective Dae____an, meaning either "created with incredible art and skill" or just "incredibly complex."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)    

definition:

(Source)

In Greek myth, the labyrinth is a highly complex walled structure, like a maze, with lots of twists and turns. Good luck getting out of there. There's also a monster loose inside: a Minotaur, part bull and part human. The best (or maybe only) way out of the labyrinth, as you can see, is up.

For hundred of years, in English, we've used the word "labyrinth" figuratively to describe any kind of complex, dangerous, confusing situation. And we use "labyrinthine" to mean "complex, dangerous, and confusing."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "those labyrinthine corridors;" "That process is maddeningly labyrinthine."

Other forms: 

"Labyrinth(s)" and "labyrinthinely" are probably the only other forms you'll need.

You can also talk about people labyrinthing (or enlabyrinthing) things (or other people). "When I applied to grad school, I didn't know how much it would labyrinth me."

And instead of calling some building or process "labyrinthine," you could call it "labyrinthed," which helps you emphasize that someone has purposefully and perhaps unnecessarily made it complex.

how to use it:

When you don't mind using a fancy, literary, academic-sounding word, and when you want to imply that something is confusing, exhausting, dangerous, and hard to navigate, call it labyrinthine.

You might talk about labyrinthine halls, buildings, stories, tasks, situations, or processes. "I always hated delivering pizza to a hospital, having to walk down labyrinthine hallways for ten minutes to track down my customer." "I got lost in the labyrinthine corridors of this poem."

examples:

"[The movie The Brothers Bloom is] a meandering, labyrinthine affair."
— Philip French, The Guardian, 5 June 2010

"Like a false scent, the authorship question has propelled historians down labyrinthine trails of evidence in quest of the real and true author."
— Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, 2000

has this page helped you understand "labyrinthine"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "labyrinthine" without saying "mazelike" or "impossible to navigate or escape from."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) got lost in the labyrinthine world of (something). (Describe that world's twists and turns.)"

Example 1: "If I'm not careful, I'll get lost in the labyrinthine world of ethical eating. If it's wrong to eat animals, is it wrong to eat dairy products, since dairy farmers treat animals cruelly? If it's wrong to eat dairy, is it wrong to eat fruit, since fruit farmers treat human workers cruelly? Will I end up like Doug Forcett on The Good Place, eating nothing but lentils that I've grown myself?"

Example 2: "[Winston's] mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it..."
— George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for April is "Interpret the Titles: Tim Curry Edition!"

Are you a fan of Tim Curry? (How could anyone not be?) Did you know his birthday is in April? I didn't until I looked it up, but it’s the perfect excuse to base this month's game on his filmography. 

I'll give you the title of some show, movie, or video game that Tim Curry has starred in, along with a summary, and I'll challenge you to interpret the title in three different ways.

To see some examples, and some tips if you get stuck, head here!

Try this one today: "The Net" was a 1998–1999 TV series that starred Tim Curry as Sorcerer. It was based on a 1995 movie of the same name. IMDb sums up the show's plotline: "Computer programmer Angela Bennett stumbles onto a plot by a secret society called the Praetorians to control the world through computer systems. [These cybercriminals] completely erase her true identity. Falsely labeled a criminal, she finds herself on the run, and she'll never stop until she's got her life back.... [Angela is helped] by individuals she finds along the way and by a mystery computer e-mail contact known as 'Sorcerer.'"

1. It's titled "The Net" because... ?

2. It's titled "The Net" because... ?

3. It's titled "The Net" because... ?

To see some possible answers, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The opposite of LABYRINTHINE is

A. CANDID.
B. UNADORNED.
C. STRAIGHTFORWARD.

2. You're most likely to apply the word "labyrinthine" to _____.

A. a car, with its many working parts
B. a quilt, with its many intricate patterns
C. a sewer, with its many confusing corridors




Answers to the review questions:
1. C
2. C

Possible answers to the game question:

1. It's titled "The Net" because it's about crime on the Internet.

2. It's titled "The Net" because the criminals entangle Angela in a kind of net.

3. It's titled "The Net" because Angela must develop a network of friends who can help her.

4. It's titled "The Net" because Angela Bennett's last name hints that her identity will ultimately have become the net.



a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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