simple
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɪm.pəl/
ipa: [ˈsɪm.pl̩]
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈsɪmpɪl/
note: Tanglish, Kerala, intervocalic voicing
ipa: /ˈsɪmbɪɭ/
homophone: symbol
rhymes: -ɪmpəl
Forms: form: simpler
form: more simple
form: simplest
form: most simple
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English symple, simple, from Old French and French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“I fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc.
Partially displaced native English onefold.
Senses: examples: text: We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Primitive people, colossally ignorant of the cause of disease and of curative processes, attributed to supernatural agencies any causes and effects for which their simple minds could give no natural explanations.
ref: 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 253:
text: The simplest soliton is the domain wall with co-dimension one, and the next simplest is the vortex with co-dimension two, whereas the co-dimension three (four) soliton is called monopole (instanton).
ref: 2006, M. Eto et al., “Solitons in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories”, in Particles, Strings and Cosmology, →ISBN, page 266:
synonyms: word: onefold
word: bare-bones
word: austere
word: bare
word: bargain
word: basic
word: cheap
word: default
word: discreet
word: economy
word: elemental
word: elementary
word: essential
word: foundational
word: fundamental
word: incomplex
word: light
word: modest
word: no-frills
word: plain
word: pure
word: restrained
word: run-of-the-mill
word: simple
word: slimline
word: spartan
word: standard
word: stripped down
word: stripped
word: uncomplicated
word: unembellished
word: uninvolved
word: unmodified
word: unvarnished
word: vanilla
antonyms: subtle
glosses: Uncomplicated; lacking complexity; taken by itself, with nothing added.
examples: text: There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.
ref: 2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 167:
text: Point-free coding is a byproduct of adopting declarative programming. You can use point-free coding without FP. But because point-free is all about improving the readability of code at a glance and making it simpler to parse, having the guarantees imposed by FP furthers this cause.
ref: 2021, Luis Atencio, The Joy of JavaScript, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 104:
synonyms: word: basic
word: trivial
word: as a duck takes to water
word: basic
word: easy
word: easy as 123
word: easy as ABC
word: easy as cake
word: easy as pie
word: easy as falling off a log
word: easy as rolling off a log
word: easy-breezy
word: easy peasy
word: easy peasy Japanesey
word: easy peasy lemon squeezy
word: eath
word: effortless
word: facile
word: idiotproof
word: light
word: like a duck takes to water
word: like falling off a log
word: like riding a bike
word: like robbing a baby
word: like shelling peas
word: like shooting fish in a barrel
word: like taking candy from a baby
word: natural
word: painless
word: piss-easy
word: plain-sailing
word: simple
word: simple as kiss your hand
word: simplex
word: smooth
word: soft
word: straightforward
word: trivial
word: troublefree
word: unchallenging
word: uncomplicated
word: undemanding
word: undifficult
word: yezzy
antonyms: word: challenging
word: hard
word: easy
glosses: Easy; not difficult.
synonyms: word: austere
word: plain
word: austere
word: bare
word: chaste
word: inornate
word: modest
word: plain
word: quiet
word: severe
word: simple
word: spartan
word: unadorned
word: unembellished
word: unextravagant
word: unornamented
word: undecked
word: ungarnished
word: untrimmed
word: unvarnished
antonyms: word: flashy
word: tinselly
word: unadorned
glosses: Without ornamentation; plain.
examples: text: Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them.
ref: 1605, Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], The Dutch Courtezan. […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for Iohn Hodgets, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue?
ref: 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVI:
text: Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great. The vision of genius comes by renouncing the too officious activity of the understanding, and giving leave and amplest privilege to the spontaneous sentiment.
ref: 1838 July 24, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Literary Ethics. An Oration Delivered before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838”, in J[ames] E[lliot] Cabot, editor, Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Emerson’s Complete Works; I), Riverside edition, London: The Waverley Book Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 160:
synonyms: word: sincere
word: unaffected
word: earnest
word: fair dinkum
word: forthright
word: upfront
word: foursquare
word: frank
word: genuine
word: honest
word: legitimate
word: on the level
word: on the up-and-up
word: square
word: straight
word: straight dinkum
word: straightforward
word: true
word: truthful
word: trustworthy
word: up front
word: veracious
word: veridical
word: artless
word: callow
word: childlike
word: clueless
word: credulous
word: dewy-eyed
word: cute
raw_tags: used ironically
word: fleeceable
word: green
word: guileless
word: ingenuous
word: innocent
word: jejune
word: Panglossian
word: Panglossic
word: quaint
raw_tags: used ironically
word: simple
word: simple-hearted
word: simple-minded
word: starry-eyed
word: unaffected
word: undesigning
word: unpretentious
word: unsophisticated
word: untested
word: unworldly
word: wide-eyed
word: immature
word: born yesterday
word: wet behind the ears
word: virgin
antonyms: word: crafty
word: guileful
word: guileless
word: gullible
word: honest
word: ingenuous
word: naive
word: unwise
glosses: Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward.
examples: text: Garak: Who would want to kill me, a simple tailor? / Odo: A simple tailor? A simple tailor who used to be an agent of the Obsidian Order!
ref: 1995 April 24, Improbable Cause (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), season 3, number 20 (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:
synonyms: common
low-born
ordinary
vulgar
antonyms: eminent
gentle
notable
highborn
well-born
glosses: Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
examples: text: ‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’
ref: 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum LV”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book X (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
english: ‘That was a simple cause,’ said Sir Tristram, ‘for to slay a good knight for to say well by his master.’
translation: ‘That was a simple cause,’ said Sir Tristram, ‘for to slay a good knight for to say well by his master.’
synonyms: word: inconsequential
word: base
word: contemptible
word: foolish
word: for the birds
word: futile
word: frivolous
word: idle
word: ignorable
word: immaterial
word: inconsequential
word: inconsiderable
word: indifferent
word: insignificant
word: like a fart in a windstorm
word: meager
word: mean
word: minor
word: negligible
word: nothingburger
word: nondescript
word: paltry
word: petty
word: picayune
word: picayunish
word: piddling
word: piddly
word: pissant
word: pitiful
word: pointless
word: silly
word: simple
word: slight
word: tin-pot
word: trifling
word: trivial
word: two-bit
word: unimportant
word: unweighty
word: vain
word: worthless
word: wretched
antonyms: word: significant
word: unimportant
word: ignorable
word: inconsequential
word: insignificant
word: minor
word: negligible
word: trivial
word: unremarkable
glosses: Trivial; insignificant.
synonyms: word: dim-witted
word: unwise
word: asinine
word: balmy
word: barmy
word: bedaft
word: loony
word: daft
word: derpy
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dopey
word: dull-headed
word: dull-witted
word: dumb
word: duncical
word: fatuous
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: gauvison
word: goofy
word: idiotic
word: idle
word: insipient
word: mookish
word: naive
word: silly
word: simple
word: slight
word: slow-witted
word: softheaded
word: soft in the head
word: sottish
word: stupid
word: thick
raw_tags: not of action
word: unsage
word: unwise
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: crackpot
word: dense
word: addlebrained
word: addlepated
word: airheaded
word: bee-brained
word: beef-witted
word: beefheaded
word: beetle-headed
word: birdbrained
word: blockheaded
word: Boeotian
word: boneheaded
word: boofheaded
word: brainless
word: bubbleheaded
word: buffle-headed
word: bullet-headed
word: cerebrally challenged
word: childish
word: chowderheaded
word: chuckleheaded
word: crackbrained
word: cretinous
word: dense
word: dented
word: dim-bulb
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dim
word: doltish
word: dopey
word: dozy
word: drowsy
word: dull-headed
word: dull-minded
word: dull-witted
word: dull
word: dumber than a box of rocks
word: dumb
word: dunderheaded
word: empty-headed
word: fatheaded
word: feeble-minded
word: flea-brained
word: foolish
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: half-brained
word: half-witted
word: hammer-headed
word: idiotic
word: imbecilic
word: inane
word: insipid
word: intellectually challenged
word: knuckleheaded
word: lamebrained
word: lowbrow
word: lumpish
word: lunkheaded
word: mentally challenged
word: mentally retarded
word: mindless
word: monosynaptic
word: moronic
word: muttonheaded
word: nitwitted
word: numbskulled
word: oafish
word: obtuse
word: peabrained
word: pratty
word: pudding-headed
word: puerile
word: purblind
word: quarter-witted
word: retarded
word: rockheaded
word: sharp as a bowling ball
word: sheep-headed
word: simple
word: slow-witted
word: slow
word: smooth-brained
word: stolid
word: stupid
word: thick-skulled
word: thickheaded
word: thickwitted
word: thick
word: unapprehensive
word: unclever
word: unintelligent
word: unsmart
word: vacant
word: vacuous
word: witless
word: wooden-headed
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: dumb as a bag of hammers
word: dumb as a box of rocks
word: dumb as a doorknob
word: dumb as an ox
word: dumb as a post
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
word: dumb as dirt
word: dumber than a rock
word: not the sharpest crayon in the box
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
word: not the sharpest tool in the shed
word: thick as a brick
word: thick as a plank
word: thick as champ
word: thick as mince
word: thick as two short planks
word: thick as a whale omelette
word: ass-brained
word: fuckwitted
word: shit-for-brains
word: thick as pig shit
antonyms: word: astute
word: quick-witted
word: foolish
word: unwise
glosses: Feeble-minded; foolish.
topics: chemistry
engineering
heading
medicine
natural-sciences
pharmacology
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.
topics: algebra
engineering
group-theory
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-trivial, and admitting no proper non-trivial quotients.
Being non-trivial, and having no proper non-trivial normal subgroups (equivalently, no proper non-trivial quotient groups).
raw_tags: of a group
of an algebraic structure
topics: algebra
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-trivial, and admitting no proper non-trivial quotients.
Being non-trivial, and having no proper non-trivial submodules (equivalently, no proper non-trivial quotient modules).
qualifier: module theory
raw_tags: of a module
of an algebraic structure
topics: algebra
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-trivial, and admitting no proper non-trivial quotients.
Being non-zero, and having no proper non-zero two-sided ideals (equivalently, no proper non-trivial quotient rings). For commutative rings, this definition coincides with that of a field.
qualifier: ring theory
raw_tags: of a ring
of an algebraic structure
topics: algebra
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-trivial, and admitting no proper non-trivial quotients.
Containing more than one element, and such that the only congruences on the structure are the diagonal relation (the equivalence relation a≡b⟺a=b) and the universal relation (the equivalence relation such that a≡b for all a,b). Equivalently, containing more than one element and having no proper non-trivial quotient algebras.
raw_tags: of an algebraic structure
topics: algebra
category-theory
computing
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-trivial, and admitting no proper non-trivial quotients.
Being non-isomorphic to the terminal object, and such that its only quotient objects (up to isomorphism) are the terminal object and itself.
raw_tags: of an object in a category with a terminal object
of an algebraic structure
topics: algebra
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Being non-abelian and having no proper non-zero ideals. (Note that this is non-equivalent to the usual algebra sense; in particular, the abelian Lie algebra of dimension 1 over any given field is non-trivial and has no proper non-zero ideals, but is by convention not considered simple.)
raw_tags: of a Lie algebra
topics: engineering
heading
mathematics
measure-theory
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Equal to a finite linear combination of indicator functions on measurable sets.
qualifier: real analysis
raw_tags: of a real-valued function
topics: biology
botany
engineering
heading
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Not compound, but possibly lobed.
examples: text: Chesapeake & Ohio turned to simple articulateds, for instance, simply because its Alleghany tunnels would not accommodate the low-pressure forward cylinders of larger compounds.
ref: 1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 6:
topics: engineering
heading
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Using steam only once in its cylinders, in contrast to a compound engine, where steam is used more than once in high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders. (of a steam engine)
examples: text: a simple ascidian
topics: biology
engineering
heading
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technical
zoology
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.
topics: chemistry
engineering
geography
geology
heading
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technical
synonyms: basic
plain
uncomplex
uncomplicated
antonyms: complex
compound
complicated
glosses: Structurally uncomplicated.
Homogenous.
examples: text: A medicine […] whose simple touch / Is powerful to araise King Pepin.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: "Yes; as well versed in the art of intrigue, I should think, as if she had been brought up in attendance in a court, instead of being a simple butler's daughter, in a gloomy old pile like this!"
ref: 1859, Ned Buntline, chapter XCIV, in Seawaif; Or, The Terror of the Coast, New York: Frederic A. Brady, page 117:
synonyms: alone
mere
only
very
glosses: Mere; not other than; being only.
Derived terms: central simple algebra
fee simple
future simple
gentle and simple
gentle nor simple
gentle or simple
it's as simple as that
oversimple
past simple
plain and simple
present simple
pure and simple
simple algebra
simple as
simple as a pimple
simple as kiss your hand
simple beam
simple connectedness
simple connectivity
simple continued fraction
simple contract
simple curve
simple dislocation
simple engine
simple English
simple equation
simple extension
simple eye
simple fraction
simple fracture
simple fruit
simple function
simple future
simple group
simple harmonic motion
simple harmonic oscillator
simplehead
simple-hearted
simple hyperopia
simple interest
simple knot
simple leaf
simple-lifeish
simple linear regression
simple living
simple machine
simple majority
simple mastectomy
simple meter
simple microscope
simple-minded
simple myopia
simpleness
simple past
simple pendulum
simple pistil
simple pole
simple present
simple protein
simple quadruple time
simple regression
simple ring
simple root
simple sentence
Simple Simon
simple squamous epithelium
simpless
simple sugar
simple syrup
simple tense
simple time
simpleton
simple trust
simplex
simplicity
simply
single