— complexly , adv. — complexness , n.
adj. , v. /keuhm pleks", kom"pleks/ ; n. /kom"pleks/ , adj.
1. composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite: a complex highway system.
2. characterized by a very complicated or involved arrangement of parts, units, etc.: complex machinery.
3. so complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with: a complex problem.
4. Gram.
a. (of a word) consisting of two parts, at least one of which is a bound form, as childish, which consists of the word child and the bound form -ish.
b. See complex sentence .
5. Math. pertaining to or using complex numbers: complex methods; complex vector space.
n.
6. an intricate or complicated association or assemblage of related things, parts, units, etc.: the entire complex of our educational system; an apartment complex.
7. Psychol. a system of interrelated, emotion-charged ideas, feelings, memories, and impulses that is usually repressed and that gives rise to abnormal or pathological behavior.
8. a fixed idea; an obsessive notion.
9. Math.
a. an arbitrary set of elements of a group.
b. a collection of simplexes having specified properties.
10. Also called coordination compound . Chem. a compound in which independently existing molecules or ions of a nonmetal (complexing agent) form coordinate bonds with a metal atom or ion. Cf. ligand (def. 2).
11. Biochem. an entity composed of molecules in which the constituents maintain much of their chemical identity: receptor-hormone complex, enzyme-substrate complex.
v.t.
12. Chem. to form a complex with.
v.i.
13. Chem. to form a complex.
[ 1645-55; 1905-10 for def. 7; (adj.) complexus, ptp. of complecti, complectere to embrace, encompass, include, equiv. to complect- (see COMPLECT) + -tus ptp. suffix; (n.) complexus totality, complex (L: inclusion, grasping, embrace), equiv. to complect ( ere ) + -tus suffix of v. action; reanalysis of the L v. as "to intertwine (completely)" has influenced sense of the adj. ]
Syn. 3. knotty, tangled, labyrinthine. 6. network, web, tangle, labyrinth.
Ant. 2, 3. simple.