Synonyms and antonyms of Complicated and difficult to understand in British Thesaurus

complicated (adjective)

difficult to do, deal with, or understand, especially because of involving a lot of different processes or aspects

difficult (adjective)

not easy to do, deal with, or understand

complex (adjective)

something that is complex has a lot of details or small parts that make it difficult to understand or deal with

elaborate (adjective)

very detailed and complicated

confused (adjective)

complicated and not well organized or explained

confusing (adjective)

if something is confusing, it is not easy to understand because it is complicated or not well organized or explained

incomprehensible (adjective)

impossible to understand

intricate (adjective)

very complicated and difficult to understand or learn

contorted (adjective)

very complicated and difficult to understand

involved (adjective)

complicated and difficult to understand

abstruse (adjective)

formal abstruse ideas or arguments are hard to understand, and are more complicated than necessary

ambiguous (adjective)

confusing or not definite, and therefore difficult to understand

arcane (adjective)

formal mysterious and difficult to understand

as clear as mud ()

very difficult to understand

baroque (adjective)

very detailed or complicated

bewildering (adjective)

a bewildering situation is confusing and difficult to understand

beyond someone’s ken ()

impossible for someone to understand because they do not have enough knowledge or experience

blurred (adjective)

difficult to understand or remember clearly

bureaucratic (adjective)

involving a lot of complicated rules, details, and processes

byzantine (adjective)

formal complicated and difficult to understand

cerebral (adjective)

formal dealing with complicated ideas rather than with emotions

convoluted (adjective)

very complicated, or more complicated than necessary

cosmic (adjective)

often humorous very big, important, or difficult to understand

cryptic (adjective)

expressing something in a mysterious or indirect way so that it is difficult to understand

cumbersome (adjective)

cumbersome words or phrases are difficult to understand or remember because they are long or complicated

dense (adjective)

dense writing is not easy to understand because it contains a lot of information

the devil is in the detail ()

used for saying that something may seem simple, but in fact the details are complicated and likely to cause problems

dim (adjective)

used about something that you do not know much about or cannot understand very well

disjointed (adjective)

confusing because the different parts seem not to be connected with each other

dizzying (adjective)

making you feel confused or dizzy

elaborate (adjective)

used about something that is more complicated than is practical or necessary

elusive (adjective)

difficult to remember or understand

enigmatic (adjective)

mysterious and difficult to understand

esoteric (adjective)

known about or understood by very few people

fanciful (adjective)

unusual and complicated rather than plain and practical

fancy (adjective)

complicated or difficult

fathomless (adjective)

literary complicated and mysterious

finicky (adjective)

more complicated than necessary and difficult to deal with

fuzzy (adjective)

difficult to understand, or not explained clearly

garbled (adjective)

confusing, or not accurate

gnomic (adjective)

literary a gnomic remark is short and clever but difficult to understand

Heath Robinson (adjective)

British a Heath Robinson machine or method is funny and clever but much too complicated for whatever job it is intended to perform

heavy going ()

something that is heavy going is difficult to achieve or understand

highfalutin (adjective)

informalshowing disapproval used for describing people, language, or ideas that sound very educated and difficult to understand

high-flown (adjective)

high-flown ideas or language sound very complicated or important but are often not very useful or practical

impenetrable (adjective)

impossible to understand

inaccessible (adjective)

difficult or impossible to understand

incoherent (adjective)

badly organized or expressed and therefore difficult to understand

indecipherable (adjective)

impossible to read or understand

indigestible (adjective)

too difficult or complicated to understand

inscrutable (adjective)

if someone is inscrutable, it is impossible to understand what they are thinking or feeling from their expression or from what they say

Kafkaesque (adjective)

complicated, confusing, and threatening

knotty (adjective)

difficult to solve or understand

lost on someone ()

if something is lost on someone, they do not understand it or are not influenced by it

mind-boggling (adjective)

informal very large, unusual, or complicated and not easy to imagine

mysterious (adjective)

not explained or understood

nice (adjective)

formal with very small differences in detail

obscure (adjective)

not clearly expressed, or not easy to understand

opaque (adjective)

difficult to understand

perplexing (adjective)

confusing

profound (adjective)

needing serious thought or study

puzzling (adjective)

confusing or difficult to understand or solve

recherché (adjective)

formal very rare or very clever, but often not liked or understood by ordinary people

sophisticated (adjective)

complicated and advanced in design

tangled (adjective)

very complicated and difficult to deal with

there is more to something than meets the eye ()

used for saying that a situation is more complicated than it seems

tortuous (adjective)

extremely complicated

twiddly (adjective)

Britishmainly spoken with a lot of complicated details

unaccountable (adjective)

formal difficult or impossible to explain or understand

unclear (adjective)

not obvious, definite, or easy to understand

unfathomable (adjective)

formal impossible to explain or understand

unintelligible (adjective)

impossible to understand