different between complication vs conundrum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French complication, from Latin complicatio, complicationem.Morphologically complicate +? -ion

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

complication (countable and uncountable, plural complications)

1. The act or process of complicating.
2. The state of being complicated; intricate or confused relation of parts; complexity.
3. A person who doesn't fit in with the main scheme of things; an interloper.
4. (medicine) A disease or diseases, or adventitious circumstances or conditions, coexistent with and modifying a primary disease, but not necessarily connected with it.
5. (horology) A feature beyond basic time display in a timepiece.

Translations

Further reading

• complication (medicine) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• complication (horology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• complication in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “complication”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• accomplition

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complicatio, complicationem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.pli.ka.sj??/
• Rhymes: -sj??
• Homophone: complications
• Hyphenation: com?pli?ca?tion

Noun

complication f (plural complications)

1. complication

Antonyms

• simplification

Further reading

• “complication” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

complication (plural complicationes)

1. complication

English

Etymology

A word of unknown origin with several variants, gaining popularity for its burlesque imitation of scholastic Latin, as hocus-pocus or panjandrum. If there is more to its origin than a nonce coinage, Anatoly Liberman suggests the best theory is that connecting it with the Conimbricenses, 16th c. scholastic commentaries on Aristotle by the Jesuits of Coimbra which indulge heavily in arguments relying on multiple significations of words.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /k??n?n.d??m/

Noun

conundrum (plural conundrums or conundra)

1. A difficult question or riddle, especially one using a play on words in the answer.

   Synonyms: brain-teaser, enigma, puzzle, riddle

   • 1816, Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. 1, Ch. 2

     “Why should I understand that, or anything else?” asked the girl. “Don’t bother my head by asking conundrums, I beg of you. Just let me discover myself in my own way.”
2. A difficult choice or decision that must be made.

   Synonyms: dilemma; see also Thesaurus:dilemma

   • 2004, Martha Stewart, statement read before being sentenced to five months in prison

     And while I am more concerned about the well-being of others than for myself, more hurt for them and for their losses than for my own, more worried for their futures than for the future of Martha Stewart the person, you are faced with a conundrum, a problem of monumental, to me, proportions.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:conundrum.

Translations

Further reading

• conundrum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Conundrum in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References