[a. mod. F. complexe, or ad. its source, L. complex-us, pa. pple. of complectĕre or complecti to encompass, embrace, comprehend, comprise; hence perh. originally ‘embracing or comprehending several elements,’ but in course of Eng. use tending to its analytical sense of ‘plaited together, interwoven’; f. com- together + plexus plaited; cf. complicated, and L. complex COMPLICE.]
1. Consisting of or comprehending various parts united or connected together; formed by combination of different elements; composite, compound. Said of things, ideas, etc. (Opposed to simple, both here and in sense 2.)
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., i. 20. That complex and multifarious man that is made up of soul and body.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xii. (ed. 3), 79. Ideas thus made up of several simple ones put together, I call Complex; such as are Beauty, Gratitude, a Man, an Army, the Universe.
1750. Harris, Hermes, Wks. (1841), 143. Those attributives which have this complex power of denoting both an attribute and an assertion … grammarians call verbs.
1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xviii. § 49. The condition of a parent … may be considered as a complex condition compounded of that of a guardian, and that of a master.
1875. Blake, Zool., 47. The stomach is often complex.
1879. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 226. A complex pillar composed of four shafts united in one.
2. esp. Consisting of parts or elements not simply coordinated, but some of them involved in various degrees of subordination; complicated, involved, intricate; not easily analysed or disentangled.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 4. A very complex Apparatus.
1795. Mason, Ch. Mus., ii. 134. So complex a harmony and so simple a melody.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., xxi. As they weave The complex crossings of the mazy dance.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. § 5. The mere mechanical arrangement of the brain is exceedingly complex.
1879. McCarthy, Own Times, II. xxviii. 347. All these artificial and complex arrangements presently fell to pieces.
b. Complex fraction in Arith. (Cf. COMPOUND.)
1827. Hutton, Course Math., I. 52. A Complex Fraction, is one that has a fraction or a mixed number for its numerator, or its denominator, or both.
1875. Hamb. Smith, Arith. (ed. 7), § 74. A Complex Fraction is one, of which the Numerator or Denominator is itself a fraction or mixed number. Thus 3/4/7 2/5/8 and 42/7/53/8 are complex fractions.
c. Complex sentence in Gram.: a sentence containing one or more subordinate clauses, as ‘I assured him that (the man [whom he sought] was not here).’
1881. Mason, Eng. Gram., § 402. A complex sentence is produced whenever the place of a substantive, an adjective, or an adverb is supplied by a … clause.
