COMPLICATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does complication mean? 

• COMPLICATION (noun)
  The noun COMPLICATION has 5 senses:

1. the act or process of complicating

2. a situation or condition that is complex or confused

3. any disease or disorder that occurs during the course of (or because of) another disease

4. a development that complicates a situation

5. puzzling complexity

  Familiarity information: COMPLICATION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMPLICATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act or process of complicating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("complication" is a kind of...):

hinderance; hindrance; interference (the act of hindering or obstructing or impeding)

Derivation:

complicate (make more complex, intricate, or richer)

complicate (make more complicated)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A situation or condition that is complex or confused

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

her coming was a serious complication

Hypernyms ("complication" is a kind of...):

situation; state of affairs (the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time)

Derivation:

complicate (make more complicated)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any disease or disorder that occurs during the course of (or because of) another disease

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

bed sores are a common complication in cases of paralysis

Hypernyms ("complication" is a kind of...):

disease (an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning)

Derivation:

complicate (make more complicated)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A development that complicates a situation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

complication; ramification

Context example:

the court's decision had many unforeseen ramifications

Hypernyms ("complication" is a kind of...):

development (a recent event that has some relevance for the present situation)

Derivation:

complicate (make more complicated)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Puzzling complexity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

complicatedness; complication; knottiness; tortuousness

Hypernyms ("complication" is a kind of...):

complexity; complexness (the quality of being intricate and compounded)

Derivation:

complicate (make more complex, intricate, or richer)

 Context examples 

Some people have no symptoms and do not develop complications.

(Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Aldehyde reductase has been implicated in inflammatory disorders and diabetic complications.

(Aldose Reductase Inhibitor, NCI Thesaurus)

It is associated with thrombosis, spontaneous abortion, and complications during labor.

(Anticardiolipin IgG Antibody, NCI Thesaurus)

A complication of MALARIA, FALCIPARUM characterized by the passage of dark red to black urine.

(Blackwater Fever, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Kidney dysfunction resulting from complications of bone marrow transplantation.

(Bone Marrow Transplantation Nephropathy, NCI Thesaurus)

Other complications of blood clots include stroke, heart attack, kidney problems and kidney failure, and pregnancy-related problems.

(Blood Clots, NIH)

Some people have a greater risk of complications because of other medical conditions.

(After Surgery, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research)

The prognosis depends on the completeness of the surgical resection, the number of lymph nodes involved by cancer, and the presence or absence of postoperative complications.

(Adenocarcinoma of the Gastroesophageal Junction, NCI Thesaurus)

While some of these genetic variants predisposed people to become obese, other variants provided protection against obesity and some of its major complications, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

(Discovery of genetic variants that protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes could lead to new weight loss medicines, University of Cambridge)

When the disease evolves to the chronic phase it can cause cardiac and digestive complications.

(Açaí fruit can transmit Chagas disease, SciDev.Net)