complex

complex adj Complex, complicated, intricate, involved, knotty are comparable when they mean having parts or elements that are more or less confusingly interrelated.

Something is complex which is made up of so many different interrelated or interacting parts or elements that it requires deep study or expert knowledge to deal with it

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the complex mechanism of a watch

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our general failure to grasp the need of knowledge and thought in mastering the complex modern world— Russell

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the complex details of naval, ground, and air activities— Roosevelt

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Something is complicated which is so complex that it is exceedingly difficult to understand, solve, explain, or deal with

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a complicated problem in mathematics

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his descriptions of the most complicated organic structures are astonishingly lucid— Huxley

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Something is intricate which, because of the interwinding or interlacing of its parts, is perplexing or hard to follow out

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the intricate tracery of an arabesque

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nature utilizes the sunshine, the air and the earth as raw materials for creating myriad perfumes, but so intricate are her processes . . . that man cannot follow precisely in her footsteps— Morrison

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the economic situation is so complex, so intricate in the interdependence of delicately balanced factors— Dewey

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Something is involved in which the parts are or are thought of as so intertwined or interwoven or so turned upon themselves as to be separated or traced out only with difficulty; the term, therefore, in reference especially to financial affairs, implies extreme complication or disorder

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the involved patterns of heraldic knots

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an involved sentence or argument

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her husband ... at his death . . . had left his affairs dreadfully involved— Austen

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public issues are so large and so involved that it is only a few who can hope to have any adequate comprehension of them— Dickinson

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Something is knotty which is not only complicated but is so full of perplexities, difficulties, or entanglements that understanding or solving seems almost impossible

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that brings up at last the knotty question, what is enough?— Shaw

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the knotty problems of a complex society— Parrington

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The same object may often be regarded from more than one of the above points of view; a sailor's knot may be intricate and complicated, as well as involved; a network of railroad tracks may be complicated as well as intricate, though not involved.

Analogous words: mixed, mingled, blended, merged, fused, amalgamated (see MIX): composite, compound (see corresponding nouns at MIXTURE)

Antonyms: simple (see PURE)

complex n *system, scheme, network, organism, economy

Antonyms: component

Contrasted words: member, *part, portion, piece: constituent, *element, factor: item, particular, detail