It really means
Resembling small grains or particles
Correct use: In shredding the old budgets, a malfunction turned the sheets of paper into teeny-tiny spitballs and the accountants became buried under a granular blizzard of numbers.
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You think it means
Very painful or unpleasant; like torture
Incorrect use: After sitting through a tortuous, all-mime version of Moby Dick, she found the musical adaptation sung in Icelandic to be enjoyable if a bit noisy.
It really means
Twisting or winding; devious or indirect; circuitous or involved
Correct use: Still, she appreciated the tortuous, decades-long road that the mimers had silently trudged to bring their show to her town.
Here are 18 words for things you never even knew had a name.