complexn.
/ˈkɒmplɛks/, U.S. /ˈkɑmˌplɛks/ 1. † b. in the (whole) complex: considered throughout its extent; as a whole. Obsolete.
a. A whole comprehending in its compass a number of parts, esp. (in later use) of interconnected parts or involved particulars; a complex or complicated whole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > [noun] > a complex whole
wholec1450
complexa1652
complexum1664
complexion1678
complication1750
synthesis1865
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > state of being composite > [noun] > a composite thing or complex whole
aggregatea1425
wholec1450
partage1593
compagesa1638
complexa1652
composite1656
complexum1664
complicate1664
complexion1678
wholenessa1681
compagea1682
complication1750
synthesis1865
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iv. iii. 83 If our Souls were nothing else but a Complex of fluid Atomes.
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) vii. vi. 335 Containing almost nothing else in the whole Complex and Body of it.
1672 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 7 5103 The Complex of the Planets, disposed and order'd..after the Copernican way.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued I. i. 238 Names being..necessary for gathering our ideas and holding them together in a complex.
1846 R. C. Trench Notes Miracles Prelim. Ess. vi. 92 The whole complex of Christ's life and doctrine.
1880 Times 28 Dec. 10/2 To sift out of the complex of [spectroscopic] lines given by each chemical element those which are ‘basic’.
1885 C. Leudesdorf tr. L. Cremona Elements Projective Geom. 241 Let there be given in the plane of the auxiliary conic a figure or complex of any kind composed of points, straight lines, and curves.
1936 A. W. Clapham Romanesque Archit. W. Europe iii. 59 S. Stefano, Bologna, with its attendant complex of buildings.
1952 N.Y. Times 6 May 2/6 Ten medium bombers..dropped 100 tons of high explosives on to the rail bridge complex at Chongju.
1955 Stokes & Varnes in Colorado Sci. Soc. Proc. XVI. 27/2 Complex,..an assemblage of rocks of any age or origin that has been folded together or intricately mixed, involved, or otherwise complicated.
1957 Times 26 Sept. 15/3 Movements..to take over control of the large steel complex [the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation].
1958 Globe Mag. (Toronto) 13 Sept. 13/1 It lies in forbidding..country where a giant new industrial complex is being developed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > in general [phrase] > in general terms or not in detail > as a whole
one or other?1544
upon the whole matter1612
on the whole1624
in the (whole) complex1661
in the large1943
1661 H. Dawbeny Sober Disc. Liturgies Postscr. 102 Is the Church of Rome Idolatrous?..Is her worship so in the whole complex yea or not?
1695 Whether Parl. dissolved by Death P'cess of Orange 6 Government, taken in the whole complex of it, cannot..provide against all Emergencies.
1721 W. Gibson Farriers Dispensatory iii. vi. 164 To take it in the Complex, it makes a pretty warm comfortable Composition.
c. Chemistry. A substance formed by the combination of simpler substances, esp. one in which the bonds between the substances are weaker than or of a different character from those between the constitutents of each substance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical admixture or isolation > [noun] > product of complexing
complex1895
1895 C. F. Cross & E. J. Bevan Cellulose ii. 92 A furfural-yielding complex, which appears to be an oxycellulose derivative.
1914 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 19 159 The enzyme-substrate complex.
1944 Adv. Enzymol. IV. 17 Earlier investigators never thought of doubting that any gene must comprise an organized complex of many molecules.
1956 Coffey & van Alphen in E. H. Rodd Chem. Carbon Compounds III b. xxi. 1406 This particular ‘lake’ being a complex of alizarin with Al, Sn, Ca, and higher fatty acids in varying proportions.
1965 C. S. G. Phillips & R. J. P. Williams Inorg. Chem. I. iv. 129 These ions form stable complexes with water molecules, e.g. [Cr(H2O)6]3+.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being mixed or blended > [noun] > a mixture > complicated or intricate
complex1727
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. xxxix. 83 Their Religion is a Complex of Mahometism and Paganism.
3. Psychology. 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; frequently with defining word prefixed, as inferiority, Œdipus complex, etc.; hence colloquial, in vague use, a fixed mental tendency or obsession. Also attributive and in other combinations.The use of the term was established by C. G. Jung in 1907 (Ueber die Psychologie der Dementia Praecox), but it originated with Neisser in 1906 (Individualität und Psychose).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > other mental illnesses
neurosis1783
mutism1824
Americanitis1882
lata1884
miryachit1884
negativism1892
obsession1892
ressentiment1896
resentment1899
pseudologia1903
echopraxia1904
complex1907
pseudo-homosexuality1908
regression1910
kleptolagnia1917
sadomasochism1919
poriomania1921
superiority complex1921
martyr complex1926
rejection1931
nemesism1938
acting out1945
catathymia1949
elective mutism1950
psychosyndrome1965
panic attack1966
Munchausen syndrome by proxy1977
Polle syndrome1977
panic disorder1978
chronic factitious disorder1980
bigorexia1985
fabricated or induced illness1994
selective mutism1999
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > obsession > [noun]
obsession1892
complex1907
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun] > obsessive
fixed idea1829
idée fixe1836
complex1907
fixation1963
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of ideas > association of ideas > [noun] > connected idea > group of
complex1907
constellation1922
1907 F. Peterson & C. G. Jung in Brain 30 178 The complex robs the ego of light and nourishment, just as a cancer robs the body of its vitality.
1911 T. W. Mitchell in Sidis Symptomatology Psychopathic Dis. (1921) 418 The delay in our response to the stimulus is due to the inhibitions exercised by the manifold of associated complexes that have been aroused to function.
1913 C. G. Jung in Trans. Internat. Congress Med. xii. 67 The unconscious existence of manifold phantasies, which have their final root in the infantile past and turn around the so-called ‘Kern-complex’, or nucleus-complex, which may be qualified in male individuals as the Œdipus-complex and in females as the Electra-complex.
1919 Athenæum 23 May 360/2 Without the adjective [‘mental’], ‘a complex’ is now a polite euphemism for a bee in one's bonnet.
1920 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Sel. Papers on Hysteria (ed. 3) xiii. 217 A thought of this kind which is capable of affecting the reaction to the stimulus word has come to be called a ‘complex’.
1920 B. Low Psycho-Analysis 87 Freud's theory of the Complex is inevitably bound up with that of Repression.
1921 Punch 5 Jan. 2/2 The distressing complex developed by his ordeal shows no signs of subsidence.
1922 A. G. Tansley New Psychol. (rev. ed.) xix. 214 Thus the ‘inferiority complex’ may account for a whole series of well-known human traits.
1924 E. C. Mayne tr. S. Freud Types Neurotic Nosogenesis in Coll. Papers II. 115 The searching analytic studies stimulated by the complex-theory of the Zürich School.
1924 N. P. Williams Doctrines of Fall & Orig. Sin vii We therefore identify the ‘inherited infirmity’ of theology with ‘inherited weakness of herd-complex’.
1924 S. Leacock Garden of Folly 47 The man is rushed off to a rest-house to have his complex removed.
1926 W. McDougall Introd. Social Psychol. (ed. 20) 403 The psycho-analysts use the term ‘complex’ to cover both the normal sentiments and the morbidly repressed sentiments. I have urged that by restricting the term ‘complex’ to the latter, and using the term ‘sentiment’ for the former, we usefully differentiate our terminology.
1927 A. Bennett Woman who stole Everything iii. 165 ‘Muriel's losing her sex-complex.’ ‘What on earth do you mean, boy?’ ‘She's getting herself tangled up with some man.’
1927 A. Bennett Woman who stole Everything iv. 301 She raised herself on her elbows and kissed him; she had no forbidding complex.
1928 Punch 8 Feb. 157 A fond aunt with a commiseration complex.
1933 D. Thomas Let. Nov. in Sel. Lett. (1966) 48 It is typical of the..complex-ridden to emphasise its naiveté.
1948 McDougall's Introd. Social Psychol. (ed. 29) Suppl. chap. vii. 447 Modern science has shown an aversion to all teleology; one might almost say that it has a ‘complex’ on that subject.
1953 A. Koestler in Encounter Nov. 25/2 Our political libido is just as complex-ridden.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
complexadj.
/ˈkɒmplɛks/, U.S. /ˌkɑmˈplɛks/ 1. Consisting of or comprehending various parts united or connected together; formed by combination of different elements; composite, compound. Said of things, ideas, etc. (Opposed to simple, both here and in sense 2.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > state of being composite > [adjective]
compoundc1400
jointc1400
pieced1419
mixed?a1425
complexionatec1430
partyc1500
concrete1536
compost?1541
united1567
composed1570
compounded1570
integral1588
compositive1601
integrate1601
complicate1638
complexa1652
complicated1667
composite1678
co-unala1711
conglomerate1835
polylithic1961
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) i. iii. 17 That Complex and Multifarious man that is made up of Soul & Body.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xii. 73 Ideas thus made up of several simple ones put together, I call Complex; such as are Beauty, Gratitude, a Man, an Army, the Universe.
1751 J. Harris Hermes i. vi. 93 Those Attributives, which have this complex Power of denoting both an Attribute and an Assertion..Grammarians call Verbs.
1780 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. (1789) xviii. §49 The condition of a parent..may be considered as a complex condition compounded of that of a guardian, and that of a master.
1875 C. C. Blake Zoology 47 The stomach is often complex.
a1878 G. G. Scott Lect. Mediæval Archit. (1879) I. 226 A complex pillar composed of four shafts united in one.
2. esp.
a. Consisting of parts or elements not simply co-ordinated, but some of them involved in various degrees of subordination; complicated, involved, intricate; not easily analysed or disentangled.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [adjective] > difficult or complex
nice?a1500
perplexeda1522
perplex1534
intricablea1540
implicate1555
labyrinthed1641
complexed1646
knotted1649
complicated1656
plicated1666
complicatea1687
complex1715
Byzantine1937
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > complication or complexity > [adjective]
nice?a1500
plaited1532
intricablea1540
unsimple?1541
entangled1561
intrinsicate1562
Gordian1606
involved1643
complexed1646
contortuplicated1648
complicated1656
puzzled1659
involute1669
complicatea1687
complex1715
woofed1820
snaggled1896
non-transparent1939
complexified1962
1715 J. T. Desaguliers tr. N. Gauger Fires Improv'd 4 A very complex Apparatus.
1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music ii. 134 So complex a harmony and so simple a melody.
1805 R. Southey Madoc ii. xxi. 382 As they weave The complex crossings of the mazy dance.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect Introd. ii. 17 The mere mechanical arrangement of the brain is exceedingly complex.
1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xxxviii. 347 All these artificial and complex arrangements presently fell to pieces.
b. complex fraction n. Arithmetic (Cf. compound adj. 2b.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > ratio or proportion > fraction > [noun] > numerator or denominator relationships
improper fraction1552
proper fractiona1630
infinitesimal1706
complex fraction1827
1827 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) I. 52 A Complex Fraction, is one that has a fraction or a mixed number for its numerator, or its denominator, or both.
1875 J. Hamblin Smith Arith. (ed. 3) §74.
c. complex sentence n. Grammar a sentence containing one or more subordinate clauses, as ‘I assured him that (the man [whom he sought] was not here)’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic unit or constituent > [noun] > sentence > specific types of
clause?c1225
compound sentence1772
complex sentence1881
run-on1892
kernel1957
simplex1960
matrix sentence1964
1881 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. §402 A complex sentence is produced whenever the place of a substantive, an adjective, or an adverb is supplied by a..clause.
d. Mathematics. Containing or characterized by complex numbers or quantities; having the form of a complex number. complex number n. a number of the form a + ib, where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of −1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > complex
complex number1860
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > prime > complex
complex1860
1832 C. F. Gauss in Comment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingensis VII. 96 Tales numeros vocabimus numeros integros complexos.]
1860 H. J. S. Smith in Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1859 253 If a and b are both rational, the complex number is said to be rational.
1860 H. J. S. Smith in Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1859 253 One complex integer α is said to be divisible by another β.
1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 818/2 The notion of the ‘path’ of a complex variable u = x + iy.
1893 A. R. Forsyth Theory Functions Complex Variable i. 1 The complex variable is the most general form of algebraical quantity which obeys the fundamental laws of ordinary algebra.
1908 G. H. Hardy Course Pure Math. iii. 78 The two complex numbers ± i satisfy this equation. We express this by saying that the equation has the two complex roots ± i.
1946 H. Jeffreys & B. S. Jeffreys Methods Math. Physics xi. 305 Complex functions, involving a symbol i such that i.i = −1, are of importance in physics.
1959 M. Born & E. Wolf Princ. Optics i. 32 Operations with complex vectors follow the usual rules of vector algebra and of algebra of complex numbers.
Draft additions 1997
e. Mathematics. Of a problem or a problem-solving algorithm: having high computational complexity (complexity n. Additions c). Hence of a system: such that the task of describing it is complex in these terms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adjective] > of a system
complete1932
complex1965
chaotic1974
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adjective] > relating to mathematical enquiry > of a proposition > of a problem
problematical1570
unlimited1702
poristic1704
porismatic1792
cyclotomic1879
complex1965
1965 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 117 304 The subset of Turing machines which are T-recognizers is recursively enumerable and therefore there are arbitrarily complex recognition problems.
1982 J. Campbell Grammatical Man ii. ix. 102 Complexity..turns out to be a special property in its own right, and it makes complex systems different in kind from simple ones.
1989 Nature 14 Sept. 100/2 If a structure can, in principle, be described completely, it is not complex.
Draft additions April 2010
complex manifold n. Mathematics a manifold (manifold n.1 5) in which the local coordinates may be taken to be complex numbers and the functions relating the coordinates of one local system to those of an overlapping system are holomorphic; more fully complex analytic manifold.Each complex manifold of complex dimension n is also a real manifold of real dimension 2n.
ΚΠ
1931 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 53 246 We introduce now a new complex manifold E.
1958 Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 9 185 Let m0 be an arbitrary point of a complex analytic manifold M of complex dimension n.
2007 M. Schlichenmaier Introd. Riemann Surfaces (ed. 2) xiv. 194 We treated the situation of one-dimensional complex manifolds, i.e. the case of Riemann surfaces, in detail.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
complexv.
/kəmˈplɛks/ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > attachment > attach or affix [verb (transitive)]
fastenOE
fasta1225
tachec1315
to-seta1340
catcha1350
affichea1382
to put ona1382
tacka1387
to put to1396
adjoina1400
attach?a1400
bend1399
spyndec1400
to-tachc1400
affixc1448
complexc1470
setc1480
attouch1483
found?1541
obligate1547
patch1549
alligate1563
dight1572
inyoke1595
infixa1616
wreathe1643
adlige1650
adhibit1651
oblige1656
adent1658
to bring to1681
engage1766
superfix1766
to lap on1867
accrete1870
c1470 J. Hardyng Chron. xci. iii Edwyns doughter..to whome Men dyd complex Maydens twelue, to take the christenhede.
2. To combine into a complex whole; to complicate, mix up. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > construct
workOE
dighta1175
to set upc1275
graitha1300
formc1300
pitchc1330
compoundc1374
to put togethera1387
performc1395
bigc1400
elementc1400
complexion1413
erect1417
framea1450
edifya1464
compose1481
construe1490
to lay together1530
perstruct1547
to piece together1572
condite1578
conflate1583
compile1590
to put together1591
to set together1603
draw1604
build1605
fabric1623
complicate1624
composit1640
constitute1646
compaginate1648
upa1658
complex1659
construct1663
structurate1664
structure1664
confect1677
to put up1699
rig1754
effect1791
structuralize1913
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being combined > combine [verb (transitive)] > in a complex way
complicate1673
complex1869
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > complication or complexity > make complicated [verb (transitive)] > combine with in complex manner
complicate1673
complex1869
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) III. 358 The question is complexed of matter-of-fact and matter-of-right.
1869 R. Browning Ring & Bk. III. viii. 151 Murdered thus..in disguise, Whereby mere murder got complexed with wile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > incorporation or inclusion > incorporate or include [verb (transitive)]
beclipc1230
beshut1340
contain1340
comprehendc1374
continue1377
begripe1393
close1393
incorpor1398
conceive?c1400
includec1475
engrossa1500
complect1523
conclude?1523
employ1528
to take in1534
retain1577
surmise1578
imprehend1590
immerse1605
comprise1651
involve1651
complexa1657
embrace1697
incorporate1824
embody1847
cover1868
a1657 R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 174 All that plenteous variety which was complext in the general terms of milk and honey.
a1657 R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 146.
4. Chemistry.
a. (To cause) to form a complex with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical admixture or isolation > combine chemically [verb (intransitive)] > cause to form a complex (with)
complex1960
1960 Austral. Jrnl. Appl. Sci. 11 305 Tannic acid was also found to be capable of complexing small amounts of copper.
1970 Nature 10 Oct. 158/1 The chelate was prepared by complexing ‘didymium’ chloride..dissolved in alcohol with TTA.
b. intransitive. To form a complex with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical admixture or isolation > combine chemically [verb (intransitive)]
combine1766
complex1970
1970 Nature 29 Aug. 886/1 Sigma factors have so far only been detected in bacteria and bacteria infected with bacteriophages, where they transiently complex with the core of the RNA polymerase molecules.
1972 Sci. Amer. July 60/3 Ceruloplasmin promotes the release of iron from animal liver so that the iron-binding protein of the serum, transferrin, can complex with iron and transfer it to the developing red blood cells.
1975 Nature 24 Jan. 271/1 Before the physiological response to the androgens, oestrogens, glucocorticoids and progesterone can be manifested, these hormones must complex with specific receptors in their target tissue.
Derivatives
ˈcomplexing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical admixture or isolation > [noun] > complexing
complexing1958
1958 Chem. Abstr. 52 15748 Fixation and complexing of toxic ions and molecules by argillaceous minerals.
1960 Austral. Jrnl. Appl. Sci. 11 309 No complexing was observed with any of the acids except oxalic.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.a1652
adj.a1652
v.c1470