simplistic

simplistic
simplistic
is first recorded in its modern meaning as recently as the late 19c. It differs from simple in implying a simplicity that is excessive or misleading rather than direct and useful:

• She's quite right…It is simplistic to speak of malice —Tom Stoppard, 1976.

To preserve this useful distinction, care should be taken not to use simplistic when the sense is positive rather than judgemental and therefore simple itself is adequate. ☒ We have got to take things back down to a more simplistic [read: simple or basic]

• level. Pensions…are essentially a life decision. Everything we do makes it more complicated —Birmingham Post, 2007.


Modern English usage. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Simplistic — Sim*plis tic, a. Of or pertaining to simples, or a simplist. [R.] Wilkinson. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • simplistic — 1881, trying to explain too much by a single principle, earlier (1860) of or pertaining to simples (herbs used in healing; the notion is of medicine of one ingredient only), from simplist one who studies simples (1590s); see SIMPLE (Cf. simple) …   Etymology dictionary

  • simplistic — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ treating complex issues and problems as simpler they really are. DERIVATIVES simplistically adverb …   English terms dictionary

  • simplistic — [sim plis′tik] adj. making complex problems unrealistically simple; oversimplifying or oversimplified simplistically adv …   English World dictionary

  • simplistic — adj. VERBS ▪ appear, be, look, seem, sound ADVERB ▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc …   Collocations dictionary

  • simplistic — [[t]sɪmplɪ̱stɪk[/t]] ADJ GRADED A simplistic view or interpretation of something makes it seem much simpler than it really is. He has a simplistic view of the treatment of eczema... The whole process is flawed because the logic behind the… …   English dictionary

  • simplistic — adjective Date: circa 1881 1. simple 2. of, relating to, or characterized by simplism ; oversimple < adequate, if occasionally simplistic, historical background Harlow Robinson > • simplistically adverb …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • simplistic — simplistically, adv. /sim plis tik/, adj. characterized by extreme simplism; oversimplified: a simplistic notion of good and bad. [1855 60; SIMPLE + ISTIC] * * * …   Universalium

  • simplistic — See simplistic, simplified …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • simplistic — sim|plis|tic [sımˈplıstık] adj treating difficult subjects in a way that is too simple ▪ This is a very simplistic approach to the problem. >simplistically [ kli] adv …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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