complexadjective
uk/ˈkɒm.pleks//kəmˈpleks/us/kɑːmˈpleks//ˈkɑːm.pleks/B2 involving a lot of different but related parts:
a complex molecule/carbohydrate
a complex network of roads
a complex procedure
The company has a complex organizational structure.
B2 difficult to understand or find an answer to because of having many different parts:
It's a very complex issue to which there is no straightforward answer.
The film's plot was so complex that I couldn't follow it.
More examples
- I find it hard to get my mind round such complex issues.
- The structure of this protein is particularly complex.
- It is a simple melody with complex harmonies.
- The writer has used several complex grammatical constructions.
- She always manages to cut through the complex theory and get at the facts.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Complexity
- a paper chase idiom
- advanced
- all-singing
- be more to sth than meets the eye idiom
- bleeding-edge
- compound
- equation
- fancy
- finicky
- high-tech
- intractable
- intricacy
- intricate
- plot
- serpentine
- sophisticated
- tangled
- the plot thickens idiom
- thereby
- wheel
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Difficult to understand
complexnoun [ C ]
uk/ˈkɒm.pleks/us/ˈkɑːm.pleks/complex noun [ C ] (BUILDING)
C1 a large building with various connected rooms or a related group of buildings:
a shopping/sports and leisure complex
US They live in a large apartment complex.
More examples
- They're planning to develop the whole site into a shopping complex.
- The hotel complex was a honeycomb of rooms and courtyards .
- The Council plans to knock the library down and replace it with a hotel complex.
- The office complex has an on-site nursery.
- They're building a new sports complex on the waterside.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Public buildings
- art gallery
- basilica
- bathhouse
- centre
- chancellery
- foundation stone
- gallery
- guildhall
- hall
- Hall of Fame
- museum
- office building
- pavilion
- public library
- reference library
- register office
- schoolhouse
- teardown
- telephone exchange
- town hall
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complex noun [ C ] (BAD FEELING)
C2 a particular anxiety or unconscious fear that a person has, especially as a result of an unpleasant experience that they have had in the past or because they have a low opinion of their own worth:
an inferiority complex
I think he's got a complex about being bald.
Don't go on about her weight - you'll give her a complex!
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Mental & psychiatric disorders
- ad
- adjustment disorder
- age-associated memory impairment
- anhedonia
- anorexia nervosa
- eating disorder
- learning difficulties
- male menopause
- melancholia
- obsessive
- paranoia
- persecution complex
- PTSD
- sad
- schizophrenia
- schizophrenic
- seasonal affective disorder
- Sen
- Stockholm syndrome
- visual variant of Alzheimer's disease
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