Complex and Complicated

Complex and Complicated Complex and Complicated Complex and Complicated By Maeve Maddox Listening to BBC 4, one of our UK readers heard a senior police officer refer to a recent case as a complex and complicated investigation. Al asks: Was he repeating himself or were there subtle nuances of communication here? Alas, Al. Looks as if the American suspicion that one word is never enough may have found its way across the Atlantic. Both complex and complicated mean folded together, intertwined, difficult to separate. Complex as an adjective meaning not easily analyzed dates from about 1715. Complicated with the meaning difficult to unravel dates from 1656. As its third definition of complicated, the OED gives to combine or mix up with in a complex, intricate, or involved way. My first post for DWT, Let the Word Do the Work, addresses this tendency. Here are some recent additions to my collection: inundated by water nostalgia for the past adequate enough pairing together world-wide pandemic preordained from before Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Wether, Weather, WhetherTen Yiddish Expressions You Should KnowGrammar Review #1: Particles and Phrasal Verbs