Complex: Complicated, a Group of Buildings, and a Psychological Pattern
Complex means made of many connected parts. It also names a group of buildings, a chemical structure, and a fixed pattern of feelings such as an inferiority complex.
Complex describes something with many interlocking parts. It is worth separating from complicated: a complex system has many components that interact, while a complicated one is merely hard to follow. A watch is complicated; a city is complex.
- Made of many parts (adjective). *A complex negotiation.*
- A group of buildings (noun). *A leisure complex.*
- A pattern of feelings. *An inferiority complex.*
- A chemical structure. *A metal complex.*
- Involving imaginary numbers (maths). *Complex numbers.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | complex | A complex problem. |
| Noun | complex | A housing complex. |
| Noun | complexity | Growing complexity. |
| Related | complicated | A complicated form. |
| Opposite | simple | A simple answer. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The situation is more complex than it looks.Many interacting factors.
- They moved into a new apartment complex.The noun — stress falls on the first syllable.
- He has a complex about his height.Informal — a fixed anxiety about something.
Complex or complicated?
- Complicated — many steps, hard to follow, but predictable
- Complex — many parts that affect each other, so behaviour is hard to predict
- Untangling a complicated thing gives you the answer; untangling a complex one changes it
- Engineering deals with complicated systems, ecology with complex ones
From Latin *complexus*, an embracing, from *complecti*, to encircle or embrace. The psychological sense comes from Carl Jung, who used it for a cluster of emotionally charged ideas held together in the mind.
Where is the stress?
The adjective is usually com-PLEX in British English and COM-plex in American. The noun is COM-plex everywhere.
What is an inferiority complex?
A term from Alfred Adler for a persistent sense of being inadequate, often compensated for by overconfidence.