complicated

1. 1
   adjective

   Difficult to follow or deal with because it has many tangled, interconnected parts.

   The plot of the novel was unnecessarily complicated.

   Coordinating volunteers across five time zones turned out to be complicated.

   Similarcomplex, intricate, convoluted, involved, tangled

   Oppositesimple, straightforward, easy, uncomplicated

   Note

   Intricacy of parts is at the heart of this word, and it was never only for situations. Letitia Elizabeth Landon writes of the complicated wheels of the social machine in Ethel Churchill (1837), and Agatha Christie of complicated seams and gores in her Autobiography (1977). It compares with more and most, as in more complicated and most complicated, never complicateder.

2. 2
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of complicate.

   A sudden change in leadership complicated the merger talks.

   The discovery of new documents complicated the historians' account.

   Note

   Here the word is a verb, sharing its spelling with the everyday adjective. Because complicate is transitive, this form takes an object (new evidence complicated the case) or turns passive, with by naming the cause: the repair was complicated by the lack of tools. That by-phrase marks the verb; very or more marks the adjective. Complicate itself once doubled as an adjective meaning "complex," a use now archaic and poetic.

3. 3
   adjective

   Folded lengthwise along the long axis, as the wings of certain insects are when at rest.

   The lacewing's complicated wings lay tucked along their length while it perched.

   Under the lens the young leaf was complicated, its halves meeting at the midrib.

   Similarfolded

   Note

   A naturalist's word with a literal geometry: the wing or young leaf is doubled along its length so its two halves lie against each other. Nothing about it is intricate, and that is the trap. In an insect description, complicated wings means folded wings, not elaborate ones, and should not be read through the everyday "difficult" meaning.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3