# complexity

Pronunciation: US say "kuhm-PLEK-si-tee" /kəmˈplɛk.sɪ.ti/; UK

## Noun

1. The state of being made up of many interconnected parts, which makes something hard to understand or deal with.
   - Simple: The state of having many parts that connect in ways that are hard to understand.
   - _The complexity of the legal system can overwhelm people who have no lawyer._
   - _Scientists study the complexity of the human brain, with its billions of connections._
2. A feature or factor that adds difficulty or makes something more complicated.
   - Simple: Something that makes a situation harder or more complicated.
   - _Each added complexity in the design raised the cost of the project._
   - _The negotiation involved many complexities that slowed the final agreement._

## Origin

Formed from "complex" plus the suffix "-ity". It partially displaced the native English word "manifoldness".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/complexity (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).