COMPLEX • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Complex

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/kˈɑmplɛks/ /kəmplˈɛks/ Listen

adjective

Complex adj.

Composed of two or more parts; composite; not simple; as, a complex being; a complex idea. "Ideas thus made up of several simple ones put together, I call complex; such as beauty, gratitude, a man, an army, the universe."

Involving many parts; complicated; intricate. "When the actual motions of the heavens are calculated in the best possible way, the process is difficult and complex."

Complex fraction. See Fraction.

Complex number (Math.), in the theory of numbers, an expression of the form a + b*sqrt(-1), when a and b are ordinary integers.

Synonyms: See Intricate.

noun

Complex n. Assemblage of related things; collection; complication. "This parable of the wedding supper comprehends in it the whole complex of all the blessings and privileges exhibited by the gospel."

Complex of lines (Geom.), all the possible straight lines in space being considered, the entire system of lines which satisfy a single relation constitute a complex; as, all the lines which meet a given curve make up a complex. The lines which satisfy two relations constitute a congruency of lines; as, the entire system of lines, each one of which meets two given surfaces, is a congruency.

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Etymology of 'Complex'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Complex" Quotes from Famous Books

... in being hailed by a large assemblage as the representative of the aspirations of two hundred and fifty millions of people. Such a man looks 'through all the roaring and the wreaths,' and does not reflect that it is a false perspective, which, as a matter of fact, hides the real complex and manifold India from his gaze. He can scarcely be expected to distinguish between the ambitions of a new oligarchy and the real wants of the people of whom he knows nothing. But it's strange that a professed ...

— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... city as a school for political training. Intensity of the jealousies and rivalries between adjacent self-governing groups of men. Smallness of simple social aggregates and universality of warfare in primitive times. For the formation of larger and more complex social aggregates, only two methods are practicable,—conquest or federation. Greek attempts at employing the higher method, that of federation. The Athenian hegemony and its overthrow. The Achaian and Aetolian leagues. In a low stage of political development ...

— American Political Ideas Viewed From The Standpoint Of Universal History • John Fiske

... kerchief, as if wishing to take it off, but let it drop again. The five minutes spent with his eyes bandaged seemed to him an hour. His arms felt numb, his legs almost gave way, it seemed to him that he was tired out. He experienced a variety of most complex sensations. He felt afraid of what would happen to him and still more afraid of showing his fear. He felt curious to know what was going to happen and what would be revealed to him; but most of all, he felt joyful that the moment had come when ...

— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... Burke declared himself attached is not French liberty. That liberty is nothing but the rein given to vice and confusion. Mr. Burke was then, as he was at the writing of his Reflections, awfully impressed with the difficulties arising from the complex state of our Constitution and our empire, and that it might require in different emergencies different sorts of exertions, and the successive call upon all the various principles which uphold and justify it. This will appear ...

— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IV. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... apiece. We're all so complex nowadays that one can't possibly satisfy us. Two would just do it. Two would serve to relax the tension of married life, and yet would not lead to what the newspapers call licence. Everyone would have another chance, and what the first ...

— Modern marriage and how to bear it • Maud Churton Braby

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