complex
composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite: a complex highway system.
characterized by a very complicated or involved arrangement of parts, units, etc.: complex machinery.
so complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with: a complex problem.
Grammar.
(of a word) consisting of two parts, at least one of which is a bound form, as childish, which consists of the word child and the bound form -ish.
Mathematics. pertaining to or using complex numbers: complex methods; complex vector space.
an intricate or complicated association or assemblage of related things, parts, units, etc.: the entire complex of our educational system; an apartment complex.
Psychology. a system of interrelated, emotion-charged ideas, feelings, memories, and impulses that is usually repressed and that gives rise to abnormal or pathological behavior.
a fixed idea; an obsessive notion.
Mathematics.
an arbitrary set of elements of a group.
a collection of simplexes having specified properties.
Also called coordination compound. Chemistry. a compound in which independently existing molecules or ions of a nonmetal (complexing agent ) form coordinate bonds with a metal atom or ion.: Compare ligand (def. 2).
Biochemistry. an entity composed of molecules in which the constituents maintain much of their chemical identity: receptor-hormone complex, enzyme-substrate complex.
Chemistry. to form a complex with.
Chemistry. to form a complex.
Origin of complex
1Other words for complex
Opposites for complex
Other words from complex
- com·plex·ly, adverb
- com·plex·ness, noun
- o·ver·com·plex, adjective
- qua·si-com·plex, adjective
- qua·si-com·plex·ly, adverb
- su·per·com·plex, adjective
- un·com·plex, adjective
- un·com·plex·ly, adverb
- un·com·plex·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use complex in a sentence
The translation agency only advertises for girls with “no complexes”: code for being prepared to bed the client.
That list includes apartment complexes, the Chrysler Group, real estate agencies, a laundromat and even a cemetery.
Detroit Shuts Off Water to Residents but Not to Businesses Who Owe Millions | Mary M. Chapman | July 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn effect, the JCS granted the U.S., British, and French military-intelligence complexes the pick of the Nazi litter.
America’s Secret Government Program to Hire Nazi War Criminals | Richard Rashke | August 2, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe opening of western grazing lands and the great stockyard complexes of the midwest had made beef the relatively cheap meat.
Home to pricey condo complexes and over a dozen golf courses.
Mexico’s Hidden Getaway: Todos Santos, Playa Cerritos | Caroline Linton | May 26, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Six different complexes (groups) of subspecies of D. ordii have probably arisen as a result of geographical separation.
Speciation in the Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ordii | Henry W. SetzerThe species Dipodomys ordii is divisible into six complexes, or groups, of subspecies on both geographic and morphological bases.
Speciation in the Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ordii | Henry W. SetzerIn the mythological assimilation-complexes that gave rise to gods, celestial phenomena furnished but a part of the elements.
Elements of Folk Psychology | Wilhelm WundtMan is inclined, according to Stricker, to inhibit associations which are not implied in his funded complexes.
Criminal Psychology | Hans GrossThese studies, in turn, can disclose new information on biological complexes and mechanisms.
Atoms, Nature, and Man | Neal O. Hines
British Dictionary definitions for complex
/ (ˈkɒmplɛks) /
made up of various interconnected parts; composite
(of thoughts, writing, etc) intricate or involved
grammar
(of a word) containing at least one bound form
(of a noun phrase) containing both a lexical noun and an embedded clause, as for example the italicized parts of the following sentence: I didn't know the man who served me
(of a sentence) formed by subordination of one clause to another
maths of or involving one or more complex numbers
a whole made up of interconnected or related parts: a building complex
psychoanal a group of emotional ideas or impulses that have been banished from the conscious mind but that continue to influence a person's behaviour
informal an obsession or excessive fear: he's got a complex about cats
Also called: coordination compound a chemical compound in which molecules, groups, or ions are attached to a central metal atom, esp a transition metal atom, by coordinate bonds
any chemical compound in which one molecule is linked to another by a coordinate bond
Origin of complex
1usage For complex
Derived forms of complex
- complexly, adverb
- complexness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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