complicated

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmplɪkeɪtɪd/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: com‧pli‧cat‧ed

complicated (comparative more complicated, superlative most complicated)

1. Difficult or convoluted.

   It seems this complicated situation will not blow over soon.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Masked Ball”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 177:

     But there always is in my mind something at once ludicrous and mournful in a crowd congregated for the purpose of amusement. What discontent, what vanity, move the complicated wheels of the social machine!

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

2. (biology) Folded longitudinally (as in the wings of certain insects).

• simple

complicated

1. simple past and past participle of complicate

   The process of fixing the car engine was complicated by the lack of tools.