complication
Americannoun
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complications
plural
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the act of complicating.
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a complicated or involved state or condition.
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a complex combination of elements or things.
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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.
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Pathology. a concurrent disease, accident, or adverse reaction that aggravates the original disease.
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the act of forming a unified idea or impression from a number of sense data, memories, etc.
noun
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a condition, event, etc, that is complex or confused
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the act or process of complicating
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a situation, event, or condition that complicates or frustrates
her coming was a serious complication
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a disease or disorder arising as a consequence of another disease
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of complication
1605–15; < Late Latin complicātīon- (stem of complicātiō ), equivalent to complicāt ( us ) ( see complicate) + -īon- -ion
Explanation
A complication is a difficult circumstance or a confused condition, like the complication you cause when you invite a dozen strangers to Thanksgiving dinner. Complications can range from the one your teacher faces when you lose your pet snake in the classroom to the complications that occur during surgery, making recovery more difficult. The plot of your favorite book probably involves several complications for the characters, events or situations that make the ending uncertain or create a dilemma. Complication comes from the Latin complicāre, "to fold together," which makes sense since something with many folds is more complicated than something that's flat.
Vocabulary lists containing complication
Reading: Literature - Fiction - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Drama - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Fiction - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
"Overall, you're talking about 3% of people will get a brain infection complication and 97% of people will have either no symptoms or have this relatively short-lived, albeit unpleasant, severe flu-like phase," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Imagine the complication, she said, of coordinating a video conference with an equally busy doctor in another state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Lambers Heerspink said, "In the finerenone group, 13.9 percent experienced such a complication, compared to 16.9 percent in the placebo group. That amounts to a reduction in risk of approximately 23 percent."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
The deal focuses on Memo’s experimental drug potravitug for the treatment of nephropathy associated with BK polyomavirus, a complication in kidney transplant recipients, Ipsen said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
“I maybe already did wreck things. Besides, she’s leaving. She wouldn’t want to. I’d be too much of a complication for her plans.”
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
Yet pregnant women who get sick with Covid are likelier to experience severe illness, including “increased risk of complications that can affect your health and the health of your baby.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Otherwise, it could cause complications if — in a worst-case scenario — the house burned down or the roof blew off in a storm.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
The best defense against the disease and its complications is the MMR vaccine, which is administered in two doses, according to the California Department of Public Health.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
In May, Towle posted a series of videos from the hospital where she was receiving treatment for complications related to her cancer.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Doctors would keep Garfield in the hospital for several days to watch for unforeseen complications.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
