complication
nounUK /ˌkɒm.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ · US /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French complication, from Latin complicatio, complicationem. Morphologically complicate + -ion.
1
The act or process of complicating.
2
The state of being complicated; intricate or confused relation of parts; complexity.
3
A person who doesn't fit in with the main scheme of things; an interloper.
4
Medicine, Sciences A disease or diseases, or adventitious circumstances or conditions, coexistent with and modifying a primary disease, but not necessarily connected with it.
5
Hobbies, Horology, Lifestyle A feature beyond basic time display in a timepiece.
- Obsessed, he was after a watch that contained the greatest number of complications in the boldest combinations in the smallest space imaginable.2013, Stacy Perman, A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 35:
- In their final year, each student must make their own watch with a complication—from a tourbillon to a chiming mode to having a date display.2023 May 28, Brian Ng, “Is one of these students the next Breguet?”, in HTSI, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 43:
6
Obsolete A twisting or intertwining.
- the snaky complication in the Caduceus or rod of Hermes.1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:
- Synonyms
- complication, entanglement, intricacy, snarl, wheel within a wheel
- Derived terms
- decomplication, overcomplication, uncomplication
- Related terms
- thing, complex, complexity, complicate
- Hypernyms
- circumstance, difficult situation, hindrance, problem