1. (

• Byzantine

) a native or inhabitant of Byzantium or of the Byzantine Empire ;

1. (

• Byzantine ,

) of or relating to the Eastern Orthodox Church or the rites performed in it; "Byzantine monks"; "Byzantine rites" ;

2. (

• Byzantine

) of or relating to or characteristic of the Byzantine Empire or the ancient city of Byzantium ;

3. (

• Byzantine ,
• convoluted ,
• involved ,
• knotty ,
• tangled ,
• tortuous

) highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months" ;