simplicity
noun/sɪmˈplɪsɪti/
Etymology From Middle English simplicite, from Old French simplicite, from Latin simplicitās, from simplex (“simple”). See simple. Partially displaced native English onefoldness.
8 senses
- 1The state or quality of being simple
- 2The quality or state of being unmixed or uncompounded
- 3The quality or state of being not complex, or of…
- 4Lack of sharpness of mind; lack of ability to think…
- 5Lack of artificial ornament, pretentious style, or…
- 6Lack of subtlety or abstruseness; clarity
- 7Lack of complication; efficiency.
- 8An act or instance of foolishness.
1
The state or quality of being simple
- simplicity of dress, of style, or of language
- simplicity of diet
1 more example
- simplicity of life
2
The quality or state of being unmixed or uncompounded
- the simplicity of metals or of earths
3
The quality or state of being not complex, or of consisting of few parts.
- the simplicity of a machine
- 2. Simplicity, with the least number of working parts, all readily visible and accessible.1951 July, “British Standard Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, pages 438-439:
4
Lack of sharpness of mind; lack of ability to think using complex ideas; stupidity
5
Lack of artificial ornament, pretentious style, or luxury; plainness
6
Lack of subtlety or abstruseness; clarity
- the simplicity of a doctrine
- the simplicity of an explanation or a demonstration
7
Lack of complication; efficiency.
- Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2023:
- speaking of the great simplicity we commit, in leaving yong children under the government and charge of their fathers and parents.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- Synonyms
- simpleness
- Antonyms
- complexity, complication
- Derived terms
- oversimplicity, semisimplicity, simplicity itself, supersimplicity, unsimplicity
- Related terms
- simple