Complication Meaning
/ˌkɒm.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act or process of complicating.
nounThe state of being complicated; intricate or confused relation of parts; complexity.
Sentence Examples
We have a complication here.
There's been a complication.
The bad weather added a further complication to our journey.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden ____ arose during the surgery last night.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French complication, from Latin complicatio, complicationem. Morphologically complicate + -ion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"the snaky complication in the Caduceus or rod of Hermes."
— 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden ____ arose during the surgery last night.