complex

adjective · noun · verb

Simple meaning

Made up of multiple parts.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kahmpleks

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IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɑmplɛks

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple.
Not simple, easy, or straightforward; complicated.
mathematicsof a number
Having the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is (by definition) the imaginary square root of −1.

noun

A network of interconnected systems.
An assemblage of related things; a collection.
An organized cluster of thunderstorms.
A cluster of wildfires burning in the same vicinity.
A fixed mental tendency or obsession.

verb

transitive
To complicate.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple.

Used this way, complex is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

multiplex , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use complex

“A complex set of variations based on a simple folk melody.”adjective
“The complex of shopping malls, houses, and roads created a new town.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Complicated

complex structure

Network

complex system

Other combinations

highly complexcomplex processextremely complexcomplex naturecomplex problems

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

complexitynounDerived noun
The quality of being intricate and compounded.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

complex fractionnounCompound term
A fraction with fractions in the numerator or denominator.
complex instruction set computernounCompound term
A kind of computer architecture that has a large number of instructions hard coded into the CPU chip.
complex instruction set computingnounCompound term
A kind of computer architecture that has a large number of instructions hard coded into the CPU chip.
complex numbernounCompound term
A number of the form a+bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1.
complex planenounCompound term
A geometric representation of the complex numbers established by the real axis and the orthogonal imaginary axis.
complex quantitynounCompound term
A number of the form a+bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: made up of multiple parts

compositemultiplexTechnical

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.