complicatedcom‧pli‧cat‧ed /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd $ ˈkɑːm-/ ●●● S2 W3 adjective 
a complicated voting system For young children, getting dressed is a complicated business.very/extremely/immensely/highly etc complicated Mental illness is a very complicated subject.RegisterIn written English, people often use complex rather than complicated, because it sounds more formal:· The problem is very complex.2consisting of many closely connected parts SYN complex: a complicated pattern The human brain is an incredibly complicated organ.THESAURUScomplicated consisting of a lot of different parts or details and therefore difficult to understand: · The rules of the game seemed very complicated.· I didn’t realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.· The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.· a complicated issuecomplex a complex process, relationship etc is difficult to understand because it has a lot of parts that are all connected in different ways: · The chemical processes involved are extremely complex.· the complex relationship between government and the mediaelaborate having a lot of parts or details and very carefully planned, but often more complicated than is necessary: · Mike had worked out an elaborate system for categorizing his collection of DVDs.· The plan to kidnap her had become even more elaborate.· Sociologists have been coming up with increasingly elaborate theories to explain unsafe sexual practices.involved very long and complicated – use this especially about something that you think should be made simpler: · The system for choosing candidates is very involved, and I won’t go into it here.· Adopting a child can be a long involved process.convoluted too complicated and difficult to understand – used especially about someone’s language or arguments, or about a system: · convoluted sentences· Procedures for government funding have become more convoluted.· James’s books are full of long paragraphs and convoluted sentences, which many people do not find appealing.intricate having a lot of small parts or details – used especially about something that is cleverly designed or made: · Lasers are used to cut intricate designs in the metal.· The farmers use an intricate system of drainage canals.· the intricate workings of a watch· intricate patterns of coloured marble
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a complicated set of instructions
- I didn't realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.
- the complicated problem of bringing peace to the Middle East
- The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.
- The new law is complicated and confusing.
- A more complicated mount might have distracted one's eye from the flowers and the frame.
- It's certainly the best way to produce more complicated boards.
- It can be even more complicated.
- The body, however, is quite complicated.
- The references I have made to light and existence only touch the surface of a very complicated debate.
- The symbolism is complicated and relies on a great deal of background information.
- The Tour may now display a hero, but it's also likely that this long and complicated race shelters a secret.
- Upper classes are often heavily loaded with current world affairs and the complicated workings of the United Nations and its agencies.
THESAURUS
consisting of a lot of different parts or details and therefore difficult to understand: · The rules of the game seemed very complicated.· I didn’t realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.· The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.· a complicated issue
a complex process, relationship etc is difficult to understand because it has a lot of parts that are all connected in different ways: · The chemical processes involved are extremely complex.· the complex relationship between government and the media
having a lot of parts or details and very carefully planned, but often more complicated than is necessary: · Mike had worked out an elaborate system for categorizing his collection of DVDs.· The plan to kidnap her had become even more elaborate.· Sociologists have been coming up with increasingly elaborate theories to explain unsafe sexual practices.
very long and complicated – use this especially about something that you think should be made simpler: · The system for choosing candidates is very involved, and I won’t go into it here.· Adopting a child can be a long involved process.
too complicated and difficult to understand – used especially about someone’s language or arguments, or about a system: · convoluted sentences· Procedures for government funding have become more convoluted.· James’s books are full of long paragraphs and convoluted sentences, which many people do not find appealing.
having a lot of small parts or details – used especially about something that is cleverly designed or made: · Lasers are used to cut intricate designs in the metal.· The farmers use an intricate system of drainage canals.· the intricate workings of a watch· intricate patterns of coloured marble
Longman Language Activatorhaving a lot of different parts and difficult to understand consisting of a lot of different parts or details and therefore difficult to understand: · I didn't realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.· The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.· the complicated problem of bringing peace to the Middle East
a complex process or system is difficult to understand because it has a lot of parts that are all connected in different ways: · The chemical processes involved in the experiment are extremely complex.· The seminar focuses on the complex relationship between government, the military, and the media.
having a lot of small parts or details - use this especially about something that is cleverly designed or made: · Lasers are used to cut intricate designs in wood.· The farmers use an intricate system of drainage canals.· the intricate workings of a watch· intricate patterns of coloured marble
having a lot of parts or details and very carefully planned, but often more complicated than is necessary: · Mike had worked out an elaborate system for categorizing his collection of CDs.· Sociologists have been coming up with increasingly elaborate theories to explain unsafe sexual practices.
very long and complicated - use this about a system, description, or explanation that you think should be made simpler: · The system for choosing candidates is very involved, and I won't go into it here.· Adopting a child can be a long involved process.
much too long and complicated, and therefore confusing and annoying: · The book begins with a long, tortuous introduction.· At last, an end to the tortuous negotiations was in sight.
too complicated and difficult to understand - use this especially about someone's language or arguments, or about a system: · He always uses a lot of convoluted arguments to support his theories, but no one's ever impressed.· James's books are full of long paragraphs and convoluted sentences, which many people do not find appealing.
a complicated official system a complicated, official system in which there are a lot of rules and processes that you have to complete, especially one that employs a lot of people: · The EU bureaucracy in Brussels has grown in size and authority.· We need less bureaucracy in the school system - teachers should be allowed to make more decisions.
involving a lot of complicated official rules and processes: · The procedure for getting funding approval is so bureaucratic!bureaucratic nightmare (=official system that is extremely complicated and annoying): · Trying to enforce the law regulating the length of passenger buses has been a bureaucratic nightmare.
complicated and annoying official rules that you have to obey before you can do or have something: · There's so much red tape involved in getting a work permit.cut through red tape (=avoid it): · There must be a way to cut through all this red tape.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Mental illness is a very complicated subject.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Mental illness is a very complicated subject.· The Australian health care system is extremely complex.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· As we saw in the previous section, the model is extremely complicated.· These workshops are particularly valuable on a historical site that may be indistinct, puzzling and confusing, or extremely complicated.· Theorists can unravel the structure of extremely complicated games.· Going abroad to study usually involved extremely complicated and difficult procedures.
· Pinot Blanc is one of the less complicated Alsace grapes, producing good, refreshing wines.· It had become less simple and at the same time less complicated than that.· The are more or less complicated functions of the:.· In earlier, less complicated times an offender might be banished, mutilated or hanged.
· Too many legs though, round luminous eyes, and more complicated mandibles than any arachnid Ace had ever seen on Earth.· For species with more than one d electron, things are much more complicated.· The case became more and more complicated.· It can be even more complicated.· Networks that exhibit the same terminal behaviour as some device, system or more complicated network are naturally known as equivalent circuits.· If one of the depends on 0, the problem is much more complicated and we will not discuss it further.· If I break the rule, correcting the pattern is more complicated.· Rot was more complicated and difficult.
· MPEG-2 sets the standard for the compression of digital signals, the most complicated and expensive element of any digital broadcasting system.· But if it involves simple images, there's no need to buy the most complicated package.· Friendship is one of nature's most complicated relationships.· Y-cells are possibly the most complicated of the lot.· In nature, it is those species that live in highly organized groups that require the most complicated communication systems.
· The calculation is quite complicated, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows.· The body, however, is quite complicated.· These can be quite complicated and it is important that you understand both systems.· When pursued in detail, such procedures can become quite complicated.· For example, unless you are careful, permissions for access can become quite complicated.· Some of the concepts and procedures described are quite complicated and require an understanding of file structures.
· Under the Act, the position is also rather complicated, but reasonably clear.· Tracing the course of the profits squeeze is inevitably rather complicated and speculative because the various influences can not be quantified.· There is a death which is eventually explained and some rather complicated love-affairs.· The vehicles are sometime rather complicated to run, and it is essential to have the workings explained to you.
· Why did life have to be so complicated?· Things'd be much easier if people didn't make it so complicated.· But does it have to be so complicated?· She made it sound so complicated.· We want to know how they came into existence and why they are so complicated.· Indeed, the cross-equation restrictions may become so complicated as to make computation of the restricted model difficult or impossible in practice.· Constance had never seen anything so complicated.
· Dinner's fine, but it's on me, as long as you don't get picky and expect anything too complicated.· If Jean could do that doctoring business, then it couldn't be too complicated, or do that much good.· Its critics list many, not all as solid as they sound: Too complicated.· However, it need not be too complicated.· It was too complicated coping with a system of security locks for three doors.· But he said loans were too complicated - this was easier.· Unfortunately, this is too complicated for the Z88's operating system.
· He added that the application procedure is very complicated and depends on full information from the tenant.· Deciding the priorities was a very complicated and difficult task.· There are higher rates for work that is very complicated, difficult or urgent.· What of the future of Bosnia, in particular, where there is a very complicated cocktail of ethnic mixes?· He had naïvely stumbled into the middle of a very complicated and dangerous situation.· The formula looks very complicated because it suddenly introduces cell addresses that mix relative and absolute references.· Legal Matters Having an extra day every four years makes things very complicated.· Since coal is formed from plants, which are chemically very complicated, its own chemical make-up is very elaborate.
NOUN· In any event, surveying becomes a much more complicated business and much more difficult to execute satisfactorily.· Organization and expertise were available there for the financing of increasingly complicated business.· The scavenging of energy and the processing thereof is a complicated business.· Now sadder but wiser, we are prepared to admit that the implementation of curriculum change is a complicated business.· These may, from time to time, make policy formulation and implementation a complicated business.· I don't conclude anything from that either, except that fancying is a complicated business.· Most adults do it almost unthinkingly, but for young children it's a painstakingly complicated business.· We are such thoroughly visual animals that we hardly realize what a complicated business seeing is.
· Extension to more complicated cases is not difficult.· In more complicated cases or where a larger aircraft is concerned the investigating team can comprise up to a dozen investigators.· The political significance of the vulgarization of high culture is exemplified in the more complicated case of Andy Warhol.· In complicated cases, the schedule can and should be drafted by counsel.
· To obtain this is in itself a complicated matter.· The Attorney-General Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will contrive to listen to what I am saying on this complicated matter.· A decade later, however, Calvinism appeared on the scene to make an already complicated matter more so.· But there are areas of fraud which still need to be tackled, such as the complicated matter of deceiving a machine.· Clearly this operation greatly complicated matters and consequently added to the cost.· But it can be a complicated matter to extract useful information from the observed spectra.· Indeed, there is a case for supposing that in complicated matters it is likely to be the worst one.· As to the judiciary, the Court of Justice, this is a more complicated matter.
· In molecules with more than one halogen atom more complicated patterns appear.· She had been moving in large ellipses, crossing and recrossing her path in a complicated pattern.· Lights moved in complicated patterns on the top of the Thing.· A complicated pattern of basins and ridges hind the volcanic arc.· Once again we worked as a Club, being issued with fine slub yarns and complicated patterns.· Pale green pipes writhed around the top and bottom of the walls and in a complicated pattern over the ceiling.
· Perhaps it would help if I explained the complicated process by which the Journal is produced.· The launch of any new product, in whatever industry, can be a long and complicated process.· From the first day of competition onwards there was the complicated process of conquering the logistics of the Stadio Olimpico complex.· It was a very involved and complicated process.· Lithography had many advantages over the difficult and complicated processes of copper and steel engraving, and even over the woodcut.· Then, paclitaxel is extracted from the bark in a complicated process.· But there are sometimes hitches in this complicated process and problems can develop.
· In fact, as the Lacanian schema indicates, the self and the other are caught in a more complicated relationship.· This creates complicated relationships between project managers and functional managers.· Friendship is one of nature's most complicated relationships.
· Other complicated structures are possible; these include performance-related options which would permit management to obtain more shares.· Bedu tents are huge, complicated structures.· Most of these universes will not provide the right conditions for the development of the complicated structures needed for intelligent life.· Behind this front line is a complicated structure of health, social, housing and financial services, management and monitoring systems.· Thus, the no-boundary proposal can account for all the complicated structure that we see around us.
· Right-On movements such as the feminists and the peace campaigners evolved complicated systems to ensure this happened.· Birds also have a complicated system of courtship. 10.· There's no complicated system of motorised controlled valves - just state of the art technology.· The Patriot is a complicated system of launchers, radars, communications and control.
· We began this section by asking what kind of explanation for complicated things would satisfy us.· On the other hand, the world was miles across and full of complicated things.· We wanted to know why we, and all other complicated things, exist.· Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.· The pendant round my neck only complicated things.· Helicopters, too, are complicated things and pose many problems.· There is no single way to measure creativity or industrial innovation; they are complicated things.
WORD FAMILYnouncomplicationadjectivecomplicated ≠ uncomplicatedverbcomplicate
1difficult to understand or deal with, because many parts or details are involved SYN complex: a complicated voting system For young children, getting dressed is a complicated business.very/extremely/immensely/highly etc complicated Mental illness is a very complicated subject.RegisterIn written English, people often use complex rather than complicated, because it sounds more formal:· The problem is very complex.2consisting of many closely connected parts SYN complex: a complicated pattern The human brain is an incredibly complicated organ.THESAURUScomplicated consisting of a lot of different parts or details and therefore difficult to understand: · The rules of the game seemed very complicated.· I didn’t realize programming the VCR would be so complicated.· The brain is like a very powerful, very complicated computer.· a complicated issuecomplex a complex process, relationship etc is difficult to understand because it has a lot of parts that are all connected in different ways: · The chemical processes involved are extremely complex.· the complex relationship between government and the mediaelaborate having a lot of parts or details and very carefully planned, but often more complicated than is necessary: · Mike had worked out an elaborate system for categorizing his collection of DVDs.· The plan to kidnap her had become even more elaborate.· Sociologists have been coming up with increasingly elaborate theories to explain unsafe sexual practices.involved very long and complicated – use this especially about something that you think should be made simpler: · The system for choosing candidates is very involved, and I won’t go into it here.· Adopting a child can be a long involved process.convoluted too complicated and difficult to understand – used especially about someone’s language or arguments, or about a system: · convoluted sentences· Procedures for government funding have become more convoluted.· James’s books are full of long paragraphs and convoluted sentences, which many people do not find appealing.intricate having a lot of small parts or details – used especially about something that is cleverly designed or made: · Lasers are used to cut intricate designs in the metal.· The farmers use an intricate system of drainage canals.· the intricate workings of a watch· intricate patterns of coloured marble