French word

compliquer

Pronunciation

IPA/kɔ̃plike/

Meaning

  • verbcomplicate

Example

Ne complique pas les choses.

Don't complicate things.

Illustration for compliquer (complicate)

More examples

La nouvelle règle risque de compliquer la situation.

The new rule risks complicating the situation.

Core concept

A manageable problem made harder to understand or solve by extra twists and barriers.

Common phrases

  • compliquer la situation

    complicate the situation

  • compliquer les choses

    complicate things

Similar words

embrouiller: To mix up information or ideas so that they become difficult to understand.
confondre: To make someone mistake one similar thing for another.
aggraver: To make an existing problem more serious.

Definition in French

Causer une complication en ajoutant des détails, des obstacles ou des contradictions à une situation.

Word origin

Compliquer is a learned French formation from Latin complicare, whose literal sense involved folding things together into a complex arrangement.

Usage tips

  • The pronominal form se compliquer means 'become more complicated', while active compliquer means 'make more complicated'.

Opposites

Related words

  • compliquécomplicatedadjective
  • complicationcomplicationnoun

Word lists with this word