complexifier

English

Etymology

From complexify +‎ -er.

Noun

complexifier (plural complexifiers)

1. Someone or something that introduces complexity (into an issue or situation)
   • 1992 September, Philip E. Tetlock, “Good Judgment in International Politics: Three Psychological Perspectives”, in Political Psychology, volume 13, number 3, page 527:

     Whereas the complexifiers emphasize tolerance of ambiguity, contradiction, and change as critical ingredients for good judgment, the fundamentalists take a starkly different approach.

   • 2000, Joseph William Singer, Entitlement: The Paradoxes of Property, Yale University Press, page 213:

     The complexifiers seek to acknowledge and express the contradiction and to articulate reasons for resolving it one way or the other without reference to a single overarching theory or formula.

   • 2009, Uldis Roze, The North American Porcupine, Cornell University Press, page 14:

     Again and again, the porcupine has been a teacher, a storyteller of the woods, a complexifier and adorner of the world.

   • 2011, Scott Berkun, Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds, BookBaby, pt. 26:

     Complexifiers are averse to reduction. Instinctively they turn basic assignments into quagmires and reject simple ideas until they’re buried in layers of abstraction.

   • 2012, Michael Dalton Johnson, Rules of the Hunt, McGraw Hill, page 24:

     The Complexifier is well-meaning but annoying. The first words out of the Complexifier’s mouth are, “Yes but . . .”

Usage notes

The word can have positive and negative connotations, depending on the context and the speaker’s viewpoint. A complexifier may introduce much-needed complexity into an issue that would otherwise suffer from unwarranted oversimplification. Or a complexifier may make an essentially simple situation unnecessarily complex.

Further reading

• Kelly Tyko (2019 February 7) “Searches for 'apoplectic' and 'complexifier' are trending after Jeff Bezos fires back”, in USA Today, USA Today.

French

Etymology

From complexe +‎ -ifier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fje/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

complexifier

1. (transitive) to complexify, complicate

   Antonym: simplifier

   Near-synonym: compliquer

Conjugation

Conjugation of complexifier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	complexifier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	complexifiant /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		complexifié /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fje/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	complexifie /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifies /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifie /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɔ̃/	complexifiez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fje/	complexifient /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/
	imperfect	complexifiais /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɛ/	complexifiais /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɛ/	complexifiait /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɛ/	complexifiions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.jɔ̃/	complexifiiez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.je/	complexifiaient /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɛ/
	past historic2	complexifiai /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fje/	complexifias /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fja/	complexifia /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fja/	complexifiâmes /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjam/	complexifiâtes /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjat/	complexifièrent /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɛʁ/
	future	complexifierai /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁe/	complexifieras /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁa/	complexifiera /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁa/	complexifierons /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɔ̃/	complexifierez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁe/	complexifieront /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	complexifierais /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɛ/	complexifierais /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɛ/	complexifierait /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɛ/	complexifierions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁjɔ̃/	complexifieriez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁje/	complexifieraient /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	complexifie /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifies /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifie /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	complexifiions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.jɔ̃/	complexifiiez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi.je/	complexifient /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/
	imperfect2	complexifiasse /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjas/	complexifiasses /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjas/	complexifiât /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fja/	complexifiassions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fja.sjɔ̃/	complexifiassiez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fja.sje/	complexifiassent /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	complexifie /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fi/	—	complexifions /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fjɔ̃/	complexifiez /kɔ̃.plɛk.si.fje/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• complexification

Further reading

• “complexifier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.