complication
[kom-pli-key-shuh n]
- the act of complicating.
- a complicated or involved state or condition.
- a complex combination of elements or things.
- something that introduces, usually unexpectedly, some difficulty, problem, change, etc.: Because of the complications involved in traveling during the strike, we decided to postpone our trip.
- Pathology. a concurrent disease, accident, or adverse reaction that aggravates the original disease.
- the act of forming a unified idea or impression from a number of sense data, memories, etc.
Origin of complication
1605–15; < Late Latin complicātīon- (stem of complicātiō), equivalent to complicāt(us) (see complicate) + -īon- -ion
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com4. drawback, handicap, obstacle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for complication
Contemporary Examples
Government policy, especially foreign policy, is rife with nuance and complication.
I suspect that barring a complication, Mr. Bush will be up and perhaps leaping, with help, from planes once again.
Bob Dole & George H.W. Bush Hospitalized: How to Interpret Illness of Public FiguresKent Sepkowitz
November 30, 2012
The Daily Pic: Andrea Longacre-White piles complexity on complication.
Digital DazzleJuly 16, 2012
This procedure, though generally safe, comes with a small risk of complication, including loss of the fetus.
New Finding That Testing Could Identify Defects in Fetuses Is a Genetics Baby StepKent Sepkowitz
June 8, 2012
“I think Bill may be too big a complication,” Plouffe quotes his boss as saying.
Historical Examples
Mop died of old age and of a complication of diseases, in the spring of 1892.
A Boy I Knew and Four DogsLaurence Hutton
Was it to help in such a complication as this that I had been summoned?
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
So much for the first complication in the tragedy of this man's life.
A Son of HagarSir Hall Caine
He needed Sally Winthrop to talk over his complication with him.
The Wall Street GirlFrederick Orin Bartlett
There had been some complication in the way of which she had been unable to rid herself.
Kept in the DarkAnthony Trollope
complication
- a condition, event, etc, that is complex or confused
- the act or process of complicating
- a situation, event, or condition that complicates or frustratesher coming was a serious complication
- a disease or disorder arising as a consequence of another disease
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for complication
n.
early 15c., from Middle French complication, from Latin complicationem (nominative complicatio), noun of action from past participle stem of complicare "to fold together, fold up, roll up," from com- "together" (see com-) + plicare "to fold, weave" (see ply (v.1)). Meaning "something that complicates" first recorded 1903.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
complication
(kŏm′plĭ-kā′shən)
- A pathological process or event occurring during a disease that is not an essential part of the disease; it may result from the disease or from independent causes.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.