Word: simple Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-der. Latin sem- Proto-Italic *-plosder. Latin -plus Latin simplusbor. Old French simplebor. Middle English symple English simple Inherited from Middle English symple, from Old French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“to fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc. Partially displaced native English onefold. Pronunciation: /ˈsɪm.pəl/, [ˈsɪm.pɫ̩], /ˈsəm.pəl/, [ˈsɘm.pɫ̩] 1. Uncomplicated; lacking complexity; taken by itself, with nothing added. Example: 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? Example: 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. 2. Easy; not difficult. Example: There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be. Example: 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. 3. Without ornamentation; plain. 4. Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward. Example: Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them. Example: Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue? 5. Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank. Example: 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! 6. Trivial; insignificant. Labels: archaic Example: ‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’ 7. Feeble-minded; foolish. Labels: colloquial, euphemistic 8. Structurally uncomplicated. 9. Structurally uncomplicated. Labels: broadly 10. Structurally uncomplicated. Labels: broadly 11. Structurally uncomplicated. Labels: broadly 12. Structurally uncomplicated. Labels: broadly, universal 13. Structurally uncomplicated. Labels: broadly 14. Structurally uncomplicated. 15. Structurally uncomplicated. 16. Structurally uncomplicated. 17. Structurally uncomplicated. Example: Chesapeake & Ohio turned to simple articulateds, for instance, simply because its Alleghany tunnels would not accommodate the low-pressure forward cylinders of larger compounds. 18. Structurally uncomplicated. Example: a simple ascidian 19. Structurally uncomplicated. 20. Mere; not other than; being only. Labels: obsolete Example: A medicine […] whose simple touch / Is powerful to araise King Pepin. Example: "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!"