Standard Lemma guide

complicated

adj · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒm.plɪ.keɪ.tɪd/
  • General-American, dialectal: /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ of Canada
  • General-American, dialectal: [ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.ɾɪd] of Canada
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /ˈkɒm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ of the US
  • Canada, dialectal: [ˈkɒm.plɪˌkeɪ.ɾɪd] of the US
  • Australian: /ˈkɔm.plɪˌkæɪ.tɪd/
  • Australian: [ˈkɔm.plɪˌkæɪ.ɾɪd]
  • Australian: /ˈkɒm.plɪˌkæɪ.tɪd/
  • Australian: [ˈkɒm.plɪˌkæɪ.ɾɪd]
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA1 M P L AH0 K EY2 T AH0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Difficult or convoluted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • It seems this complicated situation will not blow over soon.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Folded longitudinally (as in the wings of certain insects).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

simple past and past participle of complicate

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, participle, past

Examples

  • The process of fixing the car engine was complicated by the lack of tools.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

difficult to analyze or understand

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a complicated problem
  • complicated Middle East politics

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

116 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: i ndërlikuar — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: مُعَقَّد (muʕaqqad) — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: مُرَكَّب (murakkab) — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: صَعْب (ṣaʕb) — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: عَوِيص (ʕawīṣ) — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: معقد — difficult or convoluted
  • Arabic: عويص (ʕawīṣ) — difficult or convoluted
  • Armenian: դժվար (džvar) — difficult or convoluted
  • Armenian: բարդ (bard) — difficult or convoluted
  • Azerbaijani: mürəkkəb — difficult or convoluted
  • Azerbaijani: qəliz — difficult or convoluted
  • Belarusian: склада́ны (skladány) — difficult or convoluted
  • Bulgarian: сло́жен (slóžen) — difficult or convoluted
  • Bulgarian: объ́ркан (obǎ́rkan) — difficult or convoluted
  • Catalan: complicat — difficult or convoluted
  • Chinese Cantonese: 複雜 /复杂 (fuk1 zaap6) — difficult or convoluted
  • Chinese: 複雜 /复杂 (zh-min-nan) — difficult or convoluted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 複雜 /复杂 (fùzá) — difficult or convoluted
  • Czech: komplikovaný — difficult or convoluted
  • Danish: kompliceret — difficult or convoluted
  • Dutch: ingewikkeld — difficult or convoluted
  • Dutch: gecompliceerd — difficult or convoluted
  • Esperanto: komplika — difficult or convoluted
  • Esperanto: malsimpla — difficult or convoluted
  • Estonian: keeruline — difficult or convoluted
  • Finnish: monimutkainen — difficult or convoluted
  • Finnish: sekava — difficult or convoluted
  • French: compliqué — difficult or convoluted
  • French: alambiqué — difficult or convoluted
  • Georgian: გართულებული (gartulebuli) — difficult or convoluted
  • Georgian: აწეწილი (ac̣ec̣ili) — difficult or convoluted
  • Georgian: არეულ-დარეული (areul-dareuli) — difficult or convoluted
  • Georgian: ჩახლართული (čaxlartuli) — difficult or convoluted
  • Georgian: რთული (rtuli) — difficult or convoluted
  • German: kompliziert — difficult or convoluted
  • German: umständlich — difficult or convoluted
  • German: schwierig — difficult or convoluted
  • German: verzwickt — difficult or convoluted
  • German: undurchschaubar — difficult or convoluted
  • Greek: πολύπλοκος (polýplokos) — difficult or convoluted
  • Greek: περίπλοκος (períplokos) — difficult or convoluted
  • Ancient Greek: πολύπλοκος (polúplokos) — difficult or convoluted
  • Hebrew: מסובך — difficult or convoluted
  • Hebrew: מְסֻבָּךְ (mesubákh) — difficult or convoluted
  • Hebrew: מורכב — difficult or convoluted
  • Hebrew: מֻרְכָּב (murkáv) — difficult or convoluted
  • Hindi: जटिल (jaṭil) — difficult or convoluted
  • Hindi: पेचीदा (pecīdā) — difficult or convoluted
  • Hungarian: bonyolult — difficult or convoluted
  • Hungarian: komplikált — difficult or convoluted
  • Icelandic: flókið — difficult or convoluted
  • Indonesian: rumit — difficult or convoluted
  • Interlingua: complicate — difficult or convoluted
  • Irish: casta — difficult or convoluted
  • Irish: aimpléiseach — difficult or convoluted
  • Italian: complicato — difficult or convoluted
  • Italian: intricato — difficult or convoluted
  • Italian: complesso — difficult or convoluted
  • Japanese: 複雑な (fukuzatsu na) — difficult or convoluted
  • Kazakh: күрделі (kürdelı) — difficult or convoluted
  • Khmer: មិស្សភាគ (mɨhsaʼphiək) — difficult or convoluted
  • Khmer: សាញ (saañ) — difficult or convoluted
  • Korean: 복잡하다 (bokjaphada) — difficult or convoluted
  • Kyrgyz: татаал (tataal) — difficult or convoluted
  • Lao: ສັບສົນ — difficult or convoluted
  • Latin: complicātus — difficult or convoluted
  • Latin: contortus — difficult or convoluted
  • Latin: involūtus — difficult or convoluted
  • Latvian: sarežģīts — difficult or convoluted
  • Latvian: komplicēts — difficult or convoluted
  • Lithuanian: sudėtingas — difficult or convoluted
  • Macedonian: сложен (složen) — difficult or convoluted
  • Macedonian: компликуван (komplikuvan) — difficult or convoluted
  • Malayalam: സങ്കീർണ്ണമായ (saṅkīṟṇṇamāya) — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: takawhīwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: takawhiwhiwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: pōwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: pōwhīwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: pōwhiwhiwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: rīraparapa — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: matatini — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: manganga — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: whīwhiwhi — difficult or convoluted
  • Māori: pīroiroi — difficult or convoluted
  • Norwegian Bokmål: komplisert — difficult or convoluted
  • Old English: maniġfeald — difficult or convoluted
  • Iranian Persian: پیچیدِه (pičide) — difficult or convoluted
  • Iranian Persian: مُرَکَّب (morakkab) — difficult or convoluted
  • Polish: skomplikowany — difficult or convoluted
  • Polish: złożony — difficult or convoluted
  • Portuguese: complicado — difficult or convoluted
  • Punjabi: ਗੁੰਝਲ਼ਦਾਰ (guñjhḷadār) — difficult or convoluted
  • Punjabi: گنجھࣇدار (gunjhaḷdār) — difficult or convoluted
  • Romanian: complicat — difficult or convoluted
  • Romanian: alambicat — difficult or convoluted
  • Russian: сло́жный (slóžnyj) — difficult or convoluted
  • Russian: запу́танный (zapútannyj) — difficult or convoluted
  • Serbo-Croatian: сло̏жен — difficult or convoluted
  • Serbo-Croatian: slȍžen — difficult or convoluted
  • Slovak: komplikovaný — difficult or convoluted
  • Slovene: zapleten — difficult or convoluted
  • Spanish: complicado — difficult or convoluted
  • Swedish: komplicerad — difficult or convoluted
  • Tagalog: masalimuot — difficult or convoluted
  • Tajik: мураккаб (murakkab) — difficult or convoluted
  • Telugu: క్లిష్టమైన (kliṣṭamaina) — difficult or convoluted
  • Thai: ซับซ้อน (sáp-sɔ́ɔn) — difficult or convoluted
  • Turkish: karışık — difficult or convoluted
  • Turkish: komplike — difficult or convoluted
  • Turkish: karmaşık — difficult or convoluted
  • Ukrainian: складни́й (skladnýj) — difficult or convoluted
  • Urdu: پیچِیدَہ (pecīda) — difficult or convoluted
  • Uyghur: مۇرەككەپ (murekkep) — difficult or convoluted
  • Uzbek: murakkab — difficult or convoluted
  • Vietnamese: phức tạp — difficult or convoluted
  • Welsh: cymhleth — difficult or convoluted
Real reading context

complicated in complete knowledge articles