Word.ws English Dictionary

irreducible complexity

irreducible complexity noun: the proposition that complex organs such as eyes and flagella must have started existing in their current form; i.e., that they cannot have evolved from previous, less complex stages.

Noun

irreducible complexity (uncountable)

  1. The proposition that complex organs such as eyes and flagella must have started existing in their current form; i.e., that they cannot have evolved from previous, less complex stages.

Origin of irreducible complexity

Coined by Michael Behe in his book Darwin's Black Box (1996).

Questions about irreducible complexity

What does irreducible complexity mean?
Irreducible complexity means the proposition that complex organs such as eyes and flagella must have started existing in their current form; i.e., that they cannot have evolved from previous, less complex stages.
What part of speech is irreducible complexity?
Irreducible complexity is a noun.

Words near irreducible complexity in the dictionary

  1. irredentistic
  2. irredentists
  3. irreducibilities
  4. irreducibility
  5. irreducible
  6. irreducible complexity
  7. irreducibleness
  8. irreducibles
  9. irreducibly
  10. irreducibly complex
  11. irreductibility

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: irreducible complexity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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