Nonsimple

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Not easy to understand or analyze because of being composed of many interconnected parts or elements
2. Not straightforward due to the presence of various interconnected and complex components that hinder quick understanding
3. Having many parts or aspects that make understanding or solving something challenging

Etymology: "Nonsimple" is about as transparent as English compounds get: the prefix "non-" (from Latin "non," "not") attached to "simple," so the word means literally "not simple." The "simple" half traces back through Old French to Latin "simplex," meaning "single" or "uncompounded," from "sim-" (one) plus "plex" (folded), so something simple was once something made of just one fold or strand, with no complicating parts. That Latin sense of "simple" as "having a single part" explains the word's own meaning. "Nonsimple" describes something built from several interlocking pieces, where the parts must be untangled before the whole makes sense. The prefix does the work of negation, so the word needs no special history to be understood, and its use is mostly technical, appearing in fields such as mathematics and engineering where a "nonsimple" structure or system has more than one component.

Synonyms: complex, complicated

Antonyms: simple, straightforward