complicate
To make complex; to modify so as to make something intricate or difficult.
Adjective
- Intertwined.
- Complex, complicated.
- How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, / How complicate, how wonderful, is Man! - 1745, Edward Young, Night-Thoughts, section I:
Origin
First attested in the early 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin complicātus, perfect passive participle of complicō (“to fold together”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (“together”) + plicō (“to fold, weave, knit”); see plaid, and compare complex. See also Middle English complicate (“involved”).
Forms
Derived
Verb
- To make complex; to modify so as to make something intricate or difficult.
- Let us, however, put aside for the moment the mendacities and forgeries which complicate the question of Lucifer, and let us approach Palladism from an altogether different side. - 1896, Arthur Edward Waite, “Chapter...
- To involve in a convoluted matter.
- Don't complicate yourself in issues that are beyond the scope of your understanding.
- John has been complicated in the affair by new tapes that surfaced.
- The DA has made every effort to complicate me in the scandal.
- To coexist with (another disease) creating a complication.
- Masked or larvate malaria, like pernicious malaria, needs complete overhauling. Nearly every disease in the category has been confounded with malaria and classed as larvate. This heterogeneous group has been expanded to...
Forms
Synonyms
intricate entangle embroil involve mix up mire complex complexify complicate complify confuscate desimplify elaborate jazz make a meal of perplex
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Related
complication explicate implicate complex entangle entrap twist complexity
Derived
complicative complicator decomplicate overcomplicate recomplicate simplicate uncomplicate