What does complicate mean?

Definitions for complicate
ˈkɒm plɪˌkeɪt; -kɪtcom·pli·cate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word complicate.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. complicate, perplexverb

    make more complicated

    "There was a new development that complicated the matter"

  2. complicate, refine, rarify, elaborateverb

    make more complex, intricate, or richer

    "refine a design or pattern"

Wiktionary

  1. complicateverb

    To fold or twist together; to combine intricately; to make complex; to combine or associate so as to make intricate or difficult.

    Don't complicate yourself in issues that are beyond the scope of your education.

  2. complicateverb

    to expose involvement in a convoluted matter.

  3. complicateadjective

    Intertwined.

  4. complicateadjective

    Complex, complicated.

  5. Etymology: From complicatus, past participle of complicare, from com- + plicare; see plaid, and compare complex

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Complicateadjective

    Compounded of a multiplicity of parts.

    Etymology: from the verb.

    What pleasure would felicitate his spirit, if he could grasp all in a survey; as a painter runs over a complicate piece wrought by Titian or Raphael. Isaac Watts, Improv. of the Mind.

  2. To COMPLICATEverb

    Etymology: complico, Latin.

    Though the particular actions of war are complicate in fact, yet they are separate and distinct in right. Francis Bacon.

    In case our offence against God hath been complicated with injury to men, we should make restitution. John Tillotson, Sermons.

    When the disease is complicated with other diseases, one must consider that which is most dangerous. John Arbuthnot, on Diet.

    There are a multitude of human actions, which have so many complicated circumstances, aspects, and situations, with regard to time and place, persons and things, that it is impossible for any one to pass a right judgment concerning them, without entering into most of these circumstances. Isaac Watts.

    Commotion in the parts may make them apply themselves one to another, or complicate and dispose them after the manner requisite to make them stick. Robert Boyle, History of Firmness.

    Dreadful was the din
    Of hissing through the hall! thick swarming now
    With complicated monsters, head and tail. John Milton, Par. Lost.

    A man, an army, the universe, are complicated of various simple ideas, or complex ideas made up of simple ones. John Locke.

ChatGPT

  1. complicate

    To complicate means to make something more difficult to understand, analyze, or deal with by introducing various elements, factors, or details. It can also refer to causing additional problems or issues in an already challenging situation.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Complicateadjective

    composed of two or more parts united; complex; complicated; involved

  2. Complicateadjective

    folded together, or upon itself, with the fold running lengthwise

  3. Complicateverb

    to fold or twist together; to combine intricately; to make complex; to combine or associate so as to make intricate or difficult

  4. Etymology: [L. complicatus, p. p. of complicare to fold together. See Complex.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Complicate

    kom′pli-kāt, v.t. to twist or plait together: to render complex: to entangle.—adj. complex: involved.—n. Com′plicacy, the quality or state of being complicated.—adj. Com′plicated, intricate, confused.—n. Complicā′tion, an intricate blending or entanglement.—adj. Com′plicative, tending to complicate.—Complicated fracture, a fracture where there is some other injury (e.g. a flesh wound not communicating with the fracture, a dislocation, a rupture of a large blood-vessel); Complication of diseases, a number of diseases present at the same time. [L. com, together, and plicāre, -ātum, to fold.]

Entomology

  1. Complicate

    longitudinally laid in folds: intricate as opposed to simple.

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of complicate in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of complicate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of complicate in a Sentence

  1. Sarah Binder:

    Does( an apparent) rise in incivility complicate problem-solving and lawmaking, more so than ideological divides between the two parties ? or does a rise in incivility merely reflect the increased partisan combustion we see every day on Capitol Hill ?

  2. Abigail Spanberger:

    It’s apparent that House leadership does not have its heart in this effort, because the package released earlier this week was designed to fail, it was written to create confusion surrounding reform efforts and complicate a straightforward reform priority — banning Members of Congress from buying and selling individual stocks — all while creating the appearance that House Leadership wanted to take action.

  3. unknown:

    To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.

  4. Josh Holmes:

    The great irony of Democrats celebrating fissures amongst Republicans in recent years is that historically they're much less capable of confronting the extreme elements within their party than the GOP, now we're watching several years of pent-up liberal aggression about to spill into divisive primaries that will undoubtedly complicate things considerably for their Senate chances.

  5. Van Kerkhove:

    It could complicate the clinical picture, but there are tools that are in place for influenza, so it is really, really important than when the vaccine becomes available for flu, that people do take that vaccine.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for complicate

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"complicate." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 20 Jan. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/complicate>.

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    an attitude of irreverence or contempt for a divinity
    A calcaneus
    B macron
    C profaneness
    D preponderance

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