complex

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts

   the complex of shopping malls, houses, and roads created a new town

2. 2
   adj

   Made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple.

   a complex being; a complex idea

3. 3
   adj

   Not simple, easy, or straightforward; complicated.

   If, when the actual motions of the heavens are calculated in the best possible way, the process is complex and difficult, and if we are discontented at this, nature, and not the astronomer, must be the object of our displeasure.

4. 4
   adj

   Having the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is (by definition) the imaginary square root of −1.

   complex number

5. 5
   adj

   Whose range is a subset of the complex numbers.

   complex function

6. 6
   adj

   Whose coefficients are complex numbers; defined over the field of complex numbers.

   complex polynomial

7. 7
   noun

   A network of interconnected systems.

   military–industrial complex

8. 8
   noun

   A collection of buildings with a common purpose, such as a university or military base.

   The south polar region of Promethei Planum developed a Bermuda Triangle reputation. Satellites detected intermittent mass concentrations and magnetic field shifts. In 2148, prospectors working near Deseado Crater discovered an underground complex: a Prothean observation post. The odd phenomena were generated by the operation and discharge of a mass effect core, struggling to function despite fifty millennia of neglect.

Etymology

From French complexe, from Latin complexus, past participle of complector (“to entwine, encircle, compass, infold”), from com- (“together”) and plectō (“to weave, braid”). May be analyzed as com- + -plex. See complect. Doublet of complexus.