verb (used with object), com·pli·cat·ed, com·pli·cat·ing.
- to make complex, intricate, involved, or difficult: His recovery from the operation was complicated by an allergic reaction.
adjective
- complex; involved.
- Entomology. folded longitudinally one or more times, as the wings of certain insects.
adjective
- composed of elaborately interconnected parts; complex: complicated apparatus for measuring brain functions.
- difficult to analyze, understand, explain, etc.: a complicated problem.
adjective
- not complicated; simple
verb (ˈkɒmplɪˌkeɪt)
- to make or become complex
adjective (ˈkɒmplɪkɪt)
- biology folded on itselfa complicate leaf
- a less common word for complicated
adjective
- made up of intricate parts or aspects that are difficult to understand or analyse
adj.1724, from un- (1) “not” + complicated. adj.1640s, “tangled,” from past participle adjective from complicate. Figurative meaning “not easy to solve, intricate, confused, difficult to unravel” is from 1650s. v.1620s, “to intertwine” (as a past participle adjective, early 15c.), from Latin complicatus “folded together; confused, intricate,” past participle of complicare (see complication). Meaning “to make more complex” is recorded from 1832, from earlier sense “to combine in a complex way” (17c.). Related: Complicated; complicating.