complex / complexity

If something is complex, it is not simple and that means it can be hard to understand. In other words, it has many parts and normally takes a long time to study or understand. It can be used in a neutral way, but is sometimes negative, when a person wants to say something should be simple, but isn’t. Very often the structures, models and theories that you come across at university are complex - this often means that you need to analyse them - in other words, break them down into the different components. The noun form is 'complexity'.

This is a complex question which requires careful consideration.

The complexity of the problem meant that we needed to spend many more hours on identifying its causes and recommending solutions.

more example sentences        questions for personal practice        unit 1        unit 8

[ Home ] [ Up ]