Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Complex

Com′plex (kŏm′plĕks), a. [L. complexus, p. p. of complecti to entwine around, comprise; com- + plectere to twist, akin to plicare to fold. See Plait, n.] 1. 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. Locke.

2. 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. Whewell.

Complex fraction. See Fraction. — Complex number (Math.), in the theory of numbers, an expression of the form a + b√-1, when a and b are ordinary integers.

Syn. — See Intricate.

Com′plex, n. [L. complexus] 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. South.

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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.