complication

American  

[kom-pli-key-shuhn] / ˌkɒm plɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

• complications
  plural

1. the act of complicating.

2. a complicated or involved state or condition.

3. a complex combination of elements or things.

4. 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.

   Synonyms:

   obstacle, handicap, drawback

5. Pathology. a concurrent disease, accident, or adverse reaction that aggravates the original disease.

6. the act of forming a unified idea or impression from a number of sense data, memories, etc.

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complication British  

/ ˌkɒmplɪˈkeɪʃən /

noun

1. a condition, event, etc, that is complex or confused

2. the act or process of complicating

3. a situation, event, or condition that complicates or frustrates

   her coming was a serious complication

4. a disease or disorder arising as a consequence of another disease

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• precomplication
  noun
• recomplication
  noun
• complicative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• complications
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

complication complications

Brendan Greeley’s “The Almighty Dollar,” published in May, highlights another complication.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

The complication is that the shocks keep arriving.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 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

There is only one complication: he doesn’t feel like Nikhil.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Those complications mean large quantities of PVC ultimately end up in landfills.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

A doctor, she added, later told her complications from the coil had left her unable to become pregnant.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

The viewer is left free to enjoy the jokes, the characters, the manufactured complications and the warm glow of sentiment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Holding on to a car is easier, but not without complications.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

She went through a most tangled-up explanation about the how and why, and finished by saying if we should start our complications, we should come see her.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Related Words

• complexity
• confusion
• difficulty
• obstacle
• problem
• snag