adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of complicated
First recorded in 1640–50; complicate + -ed 2
Explanation
When things get complicated, they are no longer simple and straightforward. If you are asked a question that would require a long, detailed answer, you might just say, "It's complicated." The word complicated came about in the 1640's to mean "tangled" or "difficult to unravel." This makes sense, considering it came from the Latin verb complicāre, meaning "to fold together." Consider that something with many folds is more complicated than something flat. Novelist Robert Ludlum said, "Life is extremely complicated," but Confucius long ago suggested that "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." Just having those two opposing viewpoints indicates how complicated life can be.
Vocabulary lists containing complicated
Schooled
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Twelve Angry Men
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"Sorry, Wrong Number," Vocabulary from the play
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Doing so, however, would allow US and Iranian teams to discuss the far more complicated and technical issues at play, particularly about Iran's nuclear programme and its remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
Reports cite a range of complicated factors for the restraint, from apathy to technology-induced incapacity.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
Even before the complaints of customer-service problems, cardholders said the rewards structure on the revamped Bilt cards was overly complicated.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
“This stuff is a lot more complicated than you think it is, and there’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” he says.
From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026
Their details were complicated enough that one of Morgan Stanley’s own subprime mortgage bond traders said, “I don’t think any of the people above Howie fully understood the trade he had on.”
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
