Library / English Dictionary

COMPLICATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more complex, intricate, or richer

Example:

refine a design or pattern

Synonyms:

complicate; elaborate; rarify; refine

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "complicate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "complicate"):

involve (make complex or intricate or complicated)

develop (elaborate by the unfolding of a musical idea and by the working out of the rhythmic and harmonic changes in the theme)

sophisticate (make more complex or refined)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

complication (the act or process of complicating)

complication (puzzling complexity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more complicated

Example:

There was a new development that complicated the matter

Synonyms:

complicate; perplex

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "complicate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "complicate"):

complexify (make complex)

embrangle; snarl; snarl up (make more complicated or confused through entanglements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

simplify (make simpler or easier or reduce in complexity or extent)

Derivation:

complication (the act or process of complicating)

complication (a development that complicates a situation)

complication (a situation or condition that is complex or confused)

complication (any disease or disorder that occurs during the course of (or because of) another disease)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The persistence of polystyrene in the environment may be shorter and likely more complicated than we understood.

(Sunlight degrades polystyrene faster than expected, National Science Foundation)

They range from small and simple, like a blood glucose meter, to large and complicated, like a ventilator.

(Medical Device Safety, Food and Drug Administration)

A novel lipid-lowering agent with a complicated mechanism of action.

(Lifibrol, NCI Thesaurus)

It may be asymptomatic or complicated by hematuria, infections, or renal stones.

(Medullary Sponge Kidney, NCI Thesaurus)

It is the most common, convenient, and usually the safest and least expensive route of drug administration, but it uses the most complicated pathway to the tissues and bioavailability varies.

(Oral Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)

A chief rationale for peer review is that rarely is just one person, or one closely working group, able to spot every mistake or weakness in a complicated piece of work.

(Peer Review, NCI Thesaurus)

Hard, involved or complicated, elaborate, having many parts.

(Complex, NCI Thesaurus)

A dislocation not complicated by an external wound

(Closed Dislocation, NCI Thesaurus)

"Controls on ocean productivity are more complicated than light and nutrients alone," says Mike Sieracki, a program director in NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences.

(Algae-killing viruses spur nutrient recycling in oceans, National Science Foundation)

The catabolism of these amino acids is thus slightly more complicated than glutamine or proline.

(Arginine, Histidine, Glutamate, Glutamine, and Proline Degradation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)