| / English Dictionary |
SIMPLICITY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lack of ornamentation
Example:
the room was simply decorated with great restraint
Synonyms:
chasteness; restraint; simpleness; simplicity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("simplicity" is a kind of...):
plainness (the appearance of being plain and unpretentious)
Derivation:
simple (unornamented)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort
Example:
the very easiness of the deed held her back
Synonyms:
ease; easiness; simpleness; simplicity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("simplicity" is a kind of...):
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Attribute:
easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "simplicity"):
effortlessness (the quality of requiring little effort)
Derivation:
simple (easy and not involved or complicated)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The quality of being simple or uncompounded
Example:
the simplicity of a crystal
Synonyms:
simpleness; simplicity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("simplicity" is a kind of...):
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Antonym:
complexity (the quality of being intricate and compounded)
Derivation:
simple ((botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions)
simple (having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Absence of affectation or pretense
Synonyms:
simmpleness; simplicity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("simplicity" is a kind of...):
naturalness (the quality of being natural or based on natural principles)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A lack of penetration or subtlety
Example:
they took advantage of her simplicity
Synonyms:
simple mindedness; simpleness; simplicity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("simplicity" is a kind of...):
naiveness; naivete; naivety (lack of sophistication or worldliness)
Derivation:
simple (exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity)
simple-minded (lacking mental capacity and subtlety)
simple-minded (lacking subtlety and insight)
Context examples:
It is simplicity itself, said he; my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Perhaps, also, it was the elemental simplicity of his mind that baffled me.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I could not see him for the tears which his earnestness and goodness, so adorned by, and so adorning, the perfect simplicity of his manner, brought into my eyes.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
She was too absorbed in striving to reconcile the stumbling, uncouth speech and its simplicity of thought with what she saw in his face.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Simplicity of administration tends to result in high patient compliance.
(Percutaneous Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)
It would be an ideal day to open a business. (The Sun, of course, is not a planet, but for simplicity, both the Sun and moon are referred to as planets.)
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Their gentleness, their genuine attention to other people, and their manly unstudied simplicity is much more accordant with her real disposition, than the liveliness—often artificial, and often ill-timed of the other.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Beautiful as she had seemed to him before, the lithe charm of her figure and the proud, free grace of her bearing were enhanced now by the rich simplicity of her attire.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"My rouge won't come off." and Amy rubbed her brilliant cheek, and showed him her white glove with a sober simplicity that made him laugh outright.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:—"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and he know when he meet his match!"
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
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