complicate
verb /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪt/
/ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they complicate | /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪt/ /ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪt/ |
| he / she / it complicates | /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪts/ /ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪts/ |
| past simple complicated | /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd/ /ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪtɪd/ |
| past participle complicated | /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd/ /ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form complicating | /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪŋ/ /ˈkɑːmplɪkeɪtɪŋ/ |
- complicate something to make something more difficult to do, understand or deal with
- I do not wish to complicate the task more than is necessary.
- To complicate matters further, there will be no transport available till 8 o'clock.
- The issue is complicated by the fact that a vital document is missing.
Extra Examples- These events will greatly complicate the situation.
- The situation is further complicated by the language difficulties.
- This latest bloodshed greatly complicates efforts to bring peace to the region.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- enormously
- greatly
- seriously
- …
- be complicated by the fact that
Word Originearly 17th cent. (in the sense ‘combine, entangle, intertwine’): from Latin complicat- ‘folded together’, from the verb complicare, from com- ‘together’ + plicare ‘to fold’.