complicate vs elaborate what difference

what is difference between complicate and elaborate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complicatus, past participle of complicare (“to fold together”), from com- (“together”) + plicare (“to fold, weave, knit”); see plaid, and compare complex.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmplɪkeɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪt/
• Hyphenation: com‧pli‧cate

Verb

complicate (third-person singular simple present complicates, present participle complicating, simple past and past participle complicated)

1. (transitive) To make complex; to modify so as to make something intricate or difficult.
   • 1896, Arthur Edward Waite, Devil-Worship in France, or the Question of Lucifer Chapter 14

     Let us, however, put aside for the moment the mendacities and forgeries which complicate the question of Lucifer, and let us approach Palladism from an altogether different side.

2. (transitive) To involve in a convoluted matter.

   Don’t complicate yourself in issues that are beyond the scope of your understanding.

   John has been complicated in the affair by new tapes that surfaced.

   The DA has made every effort to complicate me in the scandal.

Synonyms

• (involve in a convoluted matter): intricate, entangle, embroil, mix up (in something), mire

Related terms

• complication
• explicate

Translations

See also

• complex

Adjective

complicate (comparative more complicate, superlative most complicate)

1. (obsolete) Intertwined.
2. (now rare, poetic) Complex, complicated.
   • 1745, Edward Young, Night-Thoughts, I:

     How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, / How complicate, how wonderful, is Man!

Further reading

• complicate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• complicate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Adjective

complicate

1. feminine plural of complicato

Verb

complicate

1. inflection of complicare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of complicato

Latin

Verb

complicāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of complicō

English

Etymology

1575, from Late Latin ēlabōrātus (“worked out”), past participle of ēlabōrō (“to work out”), from ē- (“out, forth, fully”) + labor (“work, toil, exertion”). More at e-, labour.

Pronunciation

• Adjective: ĭlă’bərət, IPA^(key): /ɪˈlæbəɹət/
• Verb: ĭlă’bərāt, IPA^(key): /ɪˈlæbəɹeɪt/

Adjective

elaborate (comparative more elaborate, superlative most elaborate)

1. Complex, detailed, or sophisticated.

2. Intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy.

   • The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

Translations

Verb

elaborate (third-person singular simple present elaborates, present participle elaborating, simple past and past participle elaborated)

1. (transitive) to develop in detail or complexity
   • 1871, “Bismarck”, All the Year Round (volume 5, page 129)

     […] by the time of the subsequent coronation, when the Prussian king put the crown on his own head in child-like belief of the obsolete doctrine called divine right, the untiring statesman had elaborated his scheme of reform.
2. (intransitive) (sometimes followed by on or upon, and then the object of the preposition) to expand/enlarge in detail

   What do you mean you didn’t come home last night? Would you care to elaborate?

   Could you elaborate on the plot for your novel for me?

Translations

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /elaboˈrate/

Verb

elaborate

1. adverbial present passive participle of elaborar

Italian

Adjective

elaborate

1. feminine plural of elaborato

Verb

elaborate

1. inflection of elaborare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of the past participle of elaborare

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /eː.la.boːˈraː.te/, [eːɫ̪äboːˈɾäːt̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.la.boˈra.te/, [ɛlɑbɔˈrɑːt̪ɛ]

Verb

ēlabōrāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ēlabōrō

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