intricacy

noun — 3 senses

intricacy

noun

/ˈɪn.tɹɪ.kə.si/ · IE /ɪnˈtɹɪ.kə.si/

Etymology From intric(ate) + -acy.

1

The state or quality of being intricate or entangled.

  • the intricacy of a knot
  • the intricacy of accounts
1 more example
  • the intricacy of a cause in controversy
2

Perplexity.

  • The breadth of Creation makes it impossible for us to step back far enough to see the story that the tapestry tells; the intricacy of it, from the macro to the micro to the subatomic, makes it impossible for us to comprehend the megatrillions of connections between the threads in just one small fragment of the whole.2013, Dean Koontz, Deeply Odd, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 121:
3

Something which is intricate or complex.

  • There are many intricacies in the plot of this novel.
  • With the most patient assiduity he peered into the intricacies of unrevealed structure. No object was too minute, none too large, for his attention.1845, Jordan Roche Lynch, The Hunterian Oration, page 8:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.