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complex.

Made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈkɒmplɛks/Received-Pronunciation/kəmˈplɛks/Received-Pronunciation/kɑmˈplɛks/General-American/kəm-/General-American
  1. Made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple.

    a complex being; a complex idea
    The human body is a complex system made up of many layers.
  2. Not simple, easy, or straightforward; complicated.

  3. Having the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is (by definition) the imaginary square root of −1.

    complex number
    function of a complex variable
  4. Whose range is a subset of the complex numbers.

    complex function
  5. Whose coefficients are complex numbers; defined over the field of complex numbers.

    complex polynomial
    complex algebraic variety
  6. A curve, polygon or other figure that crosses or intersects itself.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *pel- Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-der. Proto-Italic *plektōder. Latin plectō Latin complector Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin complexuslbor. French complexebor. English complex From French complexe, from Latin complexus, past participle of complector (“to entwine, encircle, compass, infold”), from com- (“together”) and plectō (“to weave, braid”). May be analyzed as com- + -plex. See complect. Doublet of complexus.

noun/ˈkɒmplɛks/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɑmˌplɛks/General-American
  1. A network of interconnected systems.

    military–industrial complex
  2. A collection of buildings with a common purpose, such as a university or military base.

  3. An assemblage of related things; a collection.

  4. An assemblage of related things; a collection. An organized cluster of thunderstorms.

  5. An assemblage of related things; a collection. A cluster of wildfires burning in the same vicinity.

    The fire complex began as two separate fires.
  6. An assemblage of related things; a collection. A group of closely related species, often distinguished only with difficulty by traditional morphological methods.

  7. A group of emotionally charged ideas or mental factors, unconsciously associated by the individual with a particular subject, arising from repressed instincts, fears, or desires and often resulting in mental abnormality.

    Jim has a real complex about working for a woman boss.
  8. A group of emotionally charged ideas or mental factors, unconsciously associated by the individual with a particular subject, arising from repressed instincts, fears, or desires and often resulting in mental abnormality. A fixed mental tendency or obsession.

  9. A structure consisting of a central atom or molecule weakly connected to surrounding atoms or molecules, as for example coordination compounds in inorganic chemistry and protein complexes in biochemistry.

  10. A complex number.

  11. A multimorphemic word, one with several parts, one with affixes.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *pel- Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-der. Proto-Italic *plektōder. Latin plectō Latin complector Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin complexuslbor. French complexebor. English complex From French complexe, from Latin complexus, past participle of complector (“to entwine, encircle, compass, infold”), from com- (“together”) and plectō (“to weave, braid”). May be analyzed as com- + -plex. See complect. Doublet of complexus.

verb
  1. To form a complex with another substance.

    intransitive
  2. To complicate.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *pel- Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-der. Proto-Italic *plektōder. Latin plectō Latin complector Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin complexuslbor. French complexebor. English complex From French complexe, from Latin complexus, past participle of complector (“to entwine, encircle, compass, infold”), from com- (“together”) and plectō (“to weave, braid”). May be analyzed as com- + -plex. See complect. Doublet of complexus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.