把新東西折進原本的局面
兩個意思都是同一個「折進一層」的動作，只是折進去的東西不同：一個是事實或人，一個是病。
make more difficult · verb · C1
To make a problem or situation more difficult by adding extra facts, people, or steps that you then have to deal with.
使複雜
核心畫面
One way to hold it: something extra gets folded in. A situation that was already there now has one more layer folded into it — another fact, another person, another illness — and because that layer is now part of the fold, everything after it is harder to deal with.
本來的事情上面，又被「折進」一層東西。原來的局面已經在那裡了，現在多了一個因素——多一個事實、多一個人、多一種病——…更多收起
本來的事情上面，又被「折進」一層東西。原來的局面已經在那裡了，現在多了一個因素——多一個事實、多一個人、多一種病——而且它不是擺在旁邊，是被折進去、跟原本的攪在一起了，所以之後每一步都比原來難處理。這個「折進去」的感覺很關鍵：complicate 說的不是把事情變難，而是「加東西進去，因而變難」。也因此它幾乎總是有一個外來的東西當主詞：某個消息、某個人、某個新狀況，把原本還算單純的局面弄複雜了。From the word’s history
From Latin complicātus, past participle of complicāre "to fold together, to fold up" (com- "together" + plicāre "to fold"). The folding is the whole image — plicāre also gives us fold-words like reply, imply and pleat.
complicate 來自拉丁文 complicāre「折疊在一起、折起來」（com- 一起 + plicāre 折）。這個「折」的畫面比較像整個字的意思：東西被折進去，層層疊在一起，攤不平也拆不開。plicāre 這一族在英文裡留下不少字，reply（折回去＝回覆）、imply（折進去＝言外之意）、pleat（褶）都是同一個動作的親戚。記住「折」這個手勢，complicate 的兩種用法就都通了：不管折進來的是一個新事實還是一種新的病，都是在原本那疊東西上再加一褶。
Wiktionary (complicate < Latin complicātus < complicāre, com- + plicāre)
One branch
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
complicateverb/ˈkɑmplɪkeɪt/
- 1
To make complex; to modify so as to make something intricate or difficult.
- Let us, however, put aside for the moment the mendacities and forgeries which complicate the question of Lucifer, and let us approach Palladism from an altogether different side.
- 2
To involve in a convoluted matter.
- Don't complicate yourself in issues that are beyond the scope of your understanding.
- John has been complicated in the affair by new tapes that surfaced.
- 3
medicinesciencesTo coexist with (another disease) creating a complication.
- Masked or larvate malaria, like pernicious malaria, needs complete overhauling. Nearly every disease in the category has been confounded with malaria and classed as larvate. This heterogeneous group has been expanded to embrace diseases unrelated to malaria, diseases complicating malaria, and symptoms and sequelæ of malaria.
complicateadj/ˈkɒmplɪkət/
- 1
obsoleteIntertwined.
- 2
archaicComplex, complicated.
- How poor ? how rich ? how abject ? how auguſt ? ¶ How complicat ? how wonderful is Man ?
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。