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Glite Dictionary
tortiously

tortiously

9.9
In a way that harms someone so the law can require payment
  • adverb
  • /tɔrˈʧəsli/
  • Formal
translation icon : de manera ilícita
  • MANHATTAN (CN) - Stephen King's longtime attorney claims in court that the Arthur B. Greene Literary Agency tortiously interfered with his contract with the master of horror, whose annual earnings are believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Examples

  • "You can't tortiously interfere with someone's business."

    Academic text (2011)

  • Sure, the meat disparagement claims obviously will not and should not survive First Amendment scrutiny, nor will Beef Products' absurd claim that by cheering on a boycott of its products, ABC was "tortiously interfering" with the company's contracts with its customers.

    Blog text (16)

  • If someone is injured tortiously, they have the right to seek compensation for their suffering.

  • The company was sued for tortiously interfering with a competitor's business arrangements.

  • The law protects individuals from being tortiously harmed by others through negligence or intentional actions.

Synonyms

unjustly
vstortiously
25 5.2

In an unfair way

is specific to civil legal wrongs rather than general unfair treatment
wrongfully
vstortiously
24 4.6

In a way that is unfair or against the law

is limited to civil wrongs under the law rather than general unfairness

How Tortious

maliciously
10 7.1
tortiously
  • Formal
9.9
wrongfully
24 4.6
carelessly
20 1.0
innocently
28 2.6
lawfully
  • Formal
39 2.5

Surface Forms

tortiously positive

Morphology

tortiously = tortious (opaque) = tort + ious + ly

The formation 'tort' + '-ious' is morphologically regular, but 'tortious' is specialist legal vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to general learners.

Etymology

Tortiously comes from tort, a word for 'wrong' that traces back to an old root meaning 'to twist', and you can see the same root in torture. So, to act tortiously is to behave in a 'twisted' or wrongful way that the law can treat as a civil wrong and may make you pay for.