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Complicated vs Complicit - What's the difference?

complicated | complicit |

As adjectives the difference between complicated and complicit

is that complicated is difficult or convoluted while complicit is associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.

As a verb complicated

is (complicate).

complicated

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Difficult or convoluted.
    • It seems this complicated situation will not blow over soon.
  • *
    • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
  • (Biology) Folded longitudinally (as in the wings of certain insects).

    • Antonyms

    * simple

    Verb

    (head)
  • (complicate)
    • The process of fixing the car engine was complicated by the lack of tools.

    complicit

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
  • * 1861 , Henry M. Wheeler, The Slaves' Champion , p. 203,
    • It [slavery] has set the seal of a complicit , guilty silence upon the most orthodox pulpits and the saintliest tongues,
  • * 1973 , , As If by Magic , Secker and Warburg, p. 177:
    • "I confess," and the Englishman turned with a near complicit grin to Hamo, "I have certain vulgar tastes myself."
  • * 2005 , Larry Dennsion, " Letters," Time , 7 March:
    • Khan's sale of nuclear secrets and a complicit Pakistani government have made the world a ticking time bomb.

    Synonyms

    * complicitous

    Derived terms

    * complicitly

    Related terms

    * complicity

    References

    * * Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989.