Byzantine

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /bɪˈzæntaɪn/

Definitions

1. Pertaining to the Eastern Roman Empire known for its art, culture, and history ; marked by complexity and intricate details often difficult to understand or follow
2. Connected with the Byzantine Empire and its distinctive civilization ; characterized by elaborate, confusing, or devious complexity especially in systems or procedures
3. Relating to the ancient empire centered around Constantinople and its legacy ; describing something that is convoluted, labyrinthine, and not straightforward

Etymology: The word "byzantine" describes something so tangled in rules, factions and procedures that it becomes nearly impossible to follow, and its path into that sense runs through a city. Byzantium was the ancient Greek city on the Bosphorus, later refounded as Constantinople, and its name became the root of the adjective through Late Latin "bȳzantīnus." The city itself had been called Byzantium since its founding by Greek colonists, and the city's later imperial court made the name famous. The shift to a figurative meaning came from the reputation of that court. The Byzantine imperial court was known for elaborate ceremony, shifting alliances, and intricate palace intrigue, and writers in the modern era drew on that image to describe bureaucracies and politics that seemed deliberately convoluted. The sense of "maze-like complexity" grew out of that reputation, so the word now describes a situation rather than a place.

Synonyms: complicated, intricate, convoluted

Antonyms: simple, straightforward