| complex | | |
| n. (cognition) | 1. complex, composite | a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts.; "the complex of shopping malls, houses, and roads created a new town" |
| ~ whole | all of something including all its component elements or parts.; "Europe considered as a whole"; "the whole of American literature" |
| ~ hybrid | a composite of mixed origin.; "the vice-presidency is a hybrid of administrative and legislative offices" |
| ~ syndrome | a complex of concurrent things.; "every word has a syndrome of meanings" |
| n. (substance) | 2. complex, coordination compound | a compound described in terms of the central atom to which other atoms are bound or coordinated. |
| ~ hydrochloride | a complex consisting of an organic base in association with hydrogen chloride. |
| ~ chemical compound, compound | (chemistry) a substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight. |
| n. (feeling) | 3. complex | (psychoanalysis) a combination of emotions and impulses that have been rejected from awareness but still influence a person's behavior. |
| ~ feeling | the experiencing of affective and emotional states.; "she had a feeling of euphoria"; "he had terrible feelings of guilt"; "I disliked him and the feeling was mutual" |
| ~ depth psychology, psychoanalysis, analysis | a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud.; "his physician recommended psychoanalysis" |
| ~ oedipal complex, oedipus complex | a complex of males; desire to possess the mother sexually and to exclude the father; said to be a source of personality disorders if unresolved. |
| ~ electra complex | a complex of females; sexual attraction to the father. |
| ~ inferiority complex | a sense of personal inferiority arising from conflict between the desire to be noticed and the fear of being humiliated. |
| n. (artifact) | 4. building complex, complex | a whole structure (as a building) made up of interconnected or related structures. |
| ~ college | a complex of buildings in which an institution of higher education is housed. |
| ~ industrial plant, plant, works | buildings for carrying on industrial labor.; "they built a large plant to manufacture automobiles" |
| ~ ribbon development | building complex in a continuous row along a road. |
| ~ structure, construction | a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts.; "the structure consisted of a series of arches"; "she wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons" |
| adj. | 5. complex | complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts.; "a complex set of variations based on a simple folk melody"; "a complex mass of diverse laws and customs" |
| ~ difficult, hard | not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure.; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" |
| ~ compound | composed of more than one part.; "compound leaves are composed of several lobes"; "compound flower heads" |
| ~ analyzable, decomposable | capable of being partitioned. |
| ~ tortuous, convoluted, tangled, byzantine, knotty, involved | highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious.; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months" |
| ~ colonial, compound | composed of many distinct individuals united to form a whole or colony.; "coral is a colonial organism" |
| ~ complicated | difficult to analyze or understand.; "a complicated problem"; "complicated Middle East politics" |
| ~ composite | consisting of separate interconnected parts. |
| ~ compound | consisting of two or more substances or ingredients or elements or parts.; "soap is a compound substance"; "housetop is a compound word"; "a blackberry is a compound fruit" |
| ~ daedal | complex and ingenious in design or function.; "the daedal hand of nature" |
| ~ gordian | extremely intricate; usually in phrase `Gordian knot'. |
| ~ interlacing, interlinking, interlocking, interwoven | linked or locked closely together as by dovetailing. |
| ~ intricate | having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate.; "intricate lacework" |
| ~ labyrinthian, mazy, labyrinthine | resembling a labyrinth in form or complexity.; "a labyrinthine network of tortuous footpaths" |
| ~ multifactorial | involving or depending on several factors or causes (especially pertaining to a condition or disease resulting from the interaction of many genes). |
| ~ multiplex | having many parts or aspects.; "the multiplex problem of drug abuse" |
| ~ thickening | becoming more intricate or complex.; "a thickening plot" |
| difficult | | |
| adj. | 1. difficult, hard | not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure.; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" |
| ~ demanding | requiring more than usually expected or thought due; especially great patience and effort and skill.; "found the job very demanding"; "a baby can be so demanding" |
| ~ challenging, ambitious | requiring full use of your abilities or resources.; "ambitious schedule"; "performed the most challenging task without a mistake" |
| ~ arduous | difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill.; "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary" |
| ~ embarrassing, unenviable, sticky, awkward | hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment.; "awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion"; "an awkward pause followed his remark"; "a sticky question"; "in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign" |
| ~ baffling, knotty, problematic, problematical, elusive, tough | making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe.; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home" |
| ~ catchy, tricky | having concealed difficulty.; "a catchy question"; "a tricky recipe to follow" |
| ~ ticklish, touchy, delicate | difficult to handle; requiring great tact.; "delicate negotiations with the big powers"; "hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter"; "a touchy subject" |
| ~ fractious | unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome.; "rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas"; "fractious components of a communication system" |
| ~ hard-fought | requiring great effort.; "a hard-fought primary" |
| ~ herculean | extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules.; "a herculean task" |
| ~ nasty, tight | exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent.; "a nasty problem"; "a good man to have on your side in a tight situation" |
| ~ rocky, rough | full of hardship or trials.; "the rocky road to success"; "they were having a rough time" |
| ~ tough, rugged | very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution.; "a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job" |
| ~ serious | requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve.; "raised serious objections to the proposal"; "the plan has a serious flaw" |
| ~ tall | impressively difficult.; "a tall order" |
| ~ thorny | bristling with perplexities.; "the thorny question of states' rights" |
| ~ troublesome | difficult to deal with.; "a troublesome infection"; "a troublesome situation" |
| ~ trying | hard to endure.; "fell upon trying times" |
| ~ vexed | causing difficulty in finding an answer or solution; much disputed.; "the vexed issue of priorities"; "we live in vexed and troubled times" |
| ~ effortful | requiring great physical effort. |
| ~ hard | dispassionate.; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer" |
| adj. | 2. difficult, unmanageable | hard to control.; "a difficult child"; "an unmanageable situation" |
| ~ defiant, noncompliant | boldly resisting authority or an opposing force.; "brought up to be aggressive and defiant"; "a defiant attitude" |
| ~ indocile, ungovernable, uncontrollable, unruly | of persons.; "the little boy's parents think he is spirited, but his teacher finds him unruly" |
| ~ uncheckable | incapable of being checked or restrained. |
| ~ disobedient | not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority.; "disobedient children" |
| ~ intractable | not tractable; difficult to manage or mold.; "an intractable disposition"; "intractable pain"; "the most intractable issue of our era"; "intractable metal" |
| grave | | |
| n. (time) | 1. grave | death of a person.; "he went to his grave without forgiving me"; "from cradle to grave" |
| ~ demise, dying, death | the time when something ends.; "it was the death of all his plans"; "a dying of old hopes" |
| n. (artifact) | 2. grave, tomb | a place for the burial of a corpse (especially beneath the ground and marked by a tombstone).; "he put flowers on his mother's grave" |
| ~ burial chamber, sepulcher, sepulchre, sepulture | a chamber that is used as a grave. |
| ~ gravestone, tombstone, headstone | a stone that is used to mark a grave. |
| ~ mastaba, mastabah | an ancient Egyptian mud-brick tomb with a rectangular base and sloping sides and flat roof.; "the Egyptian pyramids developed from the mastaba" |
| ~ place, spot, topographic point | a point located with respect to surface features of some region.; "this is a nice place for a picnic"; "a bright spot on a planet" |
| n. (communication) | 3. grave, grave accent | a mark (`) placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation. |
| ~ accent mark, accent | a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation. |
| v. (contact) | 4. grave, sculpt, sculpture | shape (a material like stone or wood) by whittling away at it.; "She is sculpting the block of marble into an image of her husband" |
| ~ carve | form by carving.; "Carve a flower from the ice" |
| ~ sculpt, sculpture | create by shaping stone or wood or any other hard material.; "sculpt a swan out of a block of ice" |
| v. (contact) | 5. engrave, grave, inscribe, scratch | carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface.; "engrave a pen"; "engraved the trophy cupt with the winner's"; "the lovers scratched their names into the bark of the tree" |
| ~ chip at, carve | engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface.; "carve one's name into the bark" |
| ~ engrave, etch | carve or cut a design or letters into.; "engrave the pen with the owner's name" |
| ~ character | engrave or inscribe characters on. |
| adj. | 6. grave, sedate, sober, solemn | dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises.; "a grave God-fearing man"; "a quiet sedate nature"; "as sober as a judge"; "a solemn promise"; "the judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence" |
| ~ serious | concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities.; "a serious student of history"; "a serious attempt to learn to ski"; "gave me a serious look"; "a serious young man"; "are you serious or joking?"; "Don't be so serious!" |
| adj. | 7. dangerous, grave, grievous, life-threatening, serious, severe | causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm.; "a dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a life-threatening disease" |
| ~ critical | being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency.; "a critical shortage of food"; "a critical illness"; "an illness at the critical stage" |
| adj. | 8. grave, grievous, heavy, weighty | of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought.; "grave responsibilities"; "faced a grave decision in a time of crisis"; "a grievous fault"; "heavy matters of state"; "the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference" |
| ~ important, of import | of great significance or value.; "important people"; "the important questions of the day" |
| hard | | |
| adj. | 1. hard | dispassionate.; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer" |
| ~ difficult, hard | not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure.; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" |
| ~ calculating, calculative, scheming, conniving, shrewd | used of persons.; "the most calculating and selfish men in the community" |
| ~ case-hardened, hardened, hard-boiled | used of persons; emotionally hardened.; "faced a case-hardened judge" |
| ~ steely | resembling steel as in hardness.; "steely eyes"; "steely nerves like those of a steeplejack" |
| ~ merciless, unmerciful | having or showing no mercy.; "the merciless enemy"; "a merciless critic"; "gave him a merciless beating" |
| ~ insensitive | deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive.; "insensitive to the needs of the patients" |
| ~ tough | not given to gentleness or sentimentality.; "a tough character" |
| adj. | 2. hard | resisting weight or pressure. |
| ~ adamantine | having the hardness of a diamond. |
| ~ al dente | of pasta cooked so as to be firm when eaten. |
| ~ corneous, hornlike, horny | made of horn (or of a substance resembling horn). |
| ~ erect, tumid | of sexual organs; stiff and rigid. |
| ~ firm, solid | not soft or yielding to pressure.; "a firm mattress"; "the snow was firm underfoot"; "solid ground" |
| ~ granitelike, rocklike, granitic, stony | hard as granite.; "a granitic fist" |
| ~ hardened, set | converted to solid form (as concrete). |
| ~ woody | made hard like wood as the result of the deposition of lignin in the cell walls. |
| ~ petrous, stonelike | (of bone especially the temporal bone) resembling stone in hardness. |
| ~ semihard | somewhat hard. |
| ~ steely | resembling steel in hardness. |
| ~ unyielding | resistant to physical force or pressure.; "an unyielding head support" |
| adj. | 3. hard, knockout, severe | very strong or vigorous.; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" |
| ~ strong | having strength or power greater than average or expected.; "a strong radio signal"; "strong medicine"; "a strong man" |
| adj. | 4. arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome | characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort.; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace" |
| ~ effortful | requiring great physical effort. |
| adj. | 5. hard, surd, unvoiced, voiceless | produced without vibration of the vocal cords.; "unvoiced consonants such as `p' and `k' and `s'" |
| ~ whispered | spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords.; "a long whispered conversation" |
| adj. | 6. concentrated, hard | (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source. |
| adj. | 7. hard | (of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum.; "Russian distinguished between hard consonants and palatalized or soft consonants" |
| ~ velar | produced with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate (as `k' in `cat' and `g' in `gun' and `ng' in `sing'). |
| adj. | 8. hard, heavy, intemperate | given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors.; "a hard drinker" |
| ~ indulgent | characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone.; "indulgent grandparents" |
| adj. | 9. hard, strong | being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content.; "hard liquor" |
| ~ alcoholic | characteristic of or containing alcohol.; "alcoholic drinks" |
| adj. | 10. hard, tough | unfortunate or hard to bear.; "had hard luck"; "a tough break" |
| ~ bad | having undesirable or negative qualities.; "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"; "a bad little boy"; "clothes in bad shape"; "a bad cut"; "bad luck"; "the news was very bad"; "the reviews were bad"; "the pay is bad"; "it was a bad light for reading"; "the movie was a bad choice" |
| adj. | 11. hard | dried out.; "hard dry rolls left over from the day before" |
| ~ stale | lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age.; "stale bread"; "the beer was stale" |
| adv. | 12. hard | with effort or force or vigor.; "the team played hard"; "worked hard all day"; "pressed hard on the lever"; "hit the ball hard"; "slammed the door hard" |
| adv. | 13. firmly, hard | with firmness.; "held hard to the railing" |
| adv. | 14. hard | earnestly or intently.; "thought hard about it"; "stared hard at the accused" |
| adv. | 15. hard, severely | causing great damage or hardship.; "industries hit hard by the depression"; "she was severely affected by the bank's failure" |
| adv. | 16. hard | slowly and with difficulty.; "prejudices die hard" |
| adv. | 17. hard, heavily, intemperately | indulging excessively.; "he drank heavily" |
| adv. | 18. hard | into a solid condition.; "concrete that sets hard within a few hours" |
| adv. | 19. hard | very near or close in space or time.; "it stands hard by the railroad tracks"; "they were hard on his heels"; "a strike followed hard upon the plant's opening" |
| adv. | 20. hard | with pain or distress or bitterness.; "he took the rejection very hard" |
| adv. | 21. hard | to the full extent possible; all the way.; "hard alee"; "the ship went hard astern"; "swung the wheel hard left" |
| torturous | | |
| adj. | 1. agonising, agonizing, excruciating, harrowing, torturesome, torturing, torturous | extremely painful. |
| ~ painful | causing physical or psychological pain.; "worked with painful slowness" |
| hard | | |
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