complicate
v.v. to make something more difficult to do, understand, or deal with. You use this when a situation becomes less simple because of new problems.
v. to make something more intricate, involved, or difficult to resolve. Often describes the introduction of new factors that hinder a process or diagnosis.
Adding more rules will only complicate the game.
The patient's existing heart condition may complicate the upcoming surgery and require a longer recovery period.
The legal team warned that introducing a second witness at this late stage would likely complicate the trial and delay the final verdict by several months.
First attested in the early 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin complicātus, perfect passive participle of complicō (“to fold together”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (“together”) + plicō (“to fold, weave, knit”); see plaid, and compare complex. See also Middle English complicate (“involved”).
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; it is often used in the passive voice to describe a situation ('it is complicated').
This will complicate to the situationThis will complicate the situationComplicate is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'to' before its object.