simple
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple (comparative simpler or more simple, superlative simplest or most simple)
- Uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
- “[…] 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? […]”
- 2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press →ISBN, page 167,
- There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.
- Without ornamentation; plain.
- Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward.
- 1605, John Marston, The Dutch Courtesan
- Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them.
- 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 22697011, stanza XXXVI:
- Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue?
- 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Literary Ethics - an Oration delivered before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838
- To be simple is to be great.
- 1605, John Marston, The Dutch Courtesan
- Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
- Antonym: gentle
- (now rare) Trivial; insignificant.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:
- ‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:
- (now colloquial, euphemistic) Feeble-minded; foolish.
- (heading, technical) Structurally uncomplicated.
- (chemistry, pharmacology) Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.
- (mathematics) Of a group: having no normal subgroup.
- (botany) Not compound, but possibly lobed.
- (of a steam engine) 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.
- 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 6:
- Chesapeake & Ohio turned to simple articulateds, for instance, simply because its Alleghany tunnels would not accommodate the low-pressure forward cylinders of larger compounds.
- 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 6:
- (zoology) Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.
- a simple ascidian
- (mineralogy) Homogenous.
- (obsolete) Mere; not other than; being only.
- c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- A medicine […] whose simple touch / Is powerful to araise King Pepin.
SynonymsEdit
- (consisting of a single part or aspect): onefold
- (having few parts or features): plain
- See also Thesaurus:easy and Thesaurus:bare-bones
AntonymsEdit
- (having few parts or features): complex, compound, complicated
- (uncomplicated): subtle
Derived termsEdit
- fee simple
- future simple
- oversimple
- past simple
- plain and simple
- present simple
- pure and simple
- simple algebra
- simple beam
- simple connectivity
- simple contract
- simple dislocation
- simple equation
- simple extension
- simple eye
- simple fraction
- simple fracture
- simple fruit
- simple function
- simple future
- simple group
- simple harmonic motion
- simplehead
- simple-hearted
- simple interest
- simple leaf
- simple linear regression
- simple machine
- simple mastectomy
- simple microscope
- simple-minded
- simpleness
- simple past
- simple pendulum
- simple pistil
- simple pole
- simple present
- simple protein
- simple regression
- simple sentence
- Simple Simon
- simpless
- simple sugar
- simple syrup
- simple time
- simpleton
- simple trust
- simplex
- simplicity
- simply
- single
TranslationsEdit
|
|
|
|
NounEdit
simple (plural simples)
- (pharmacology) A herbal preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 37, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- I know there are some simples, which in operation are moistening and some drying.
- a. 1700, William Temple, “Of Health and Long-life”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. [...], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, OCLC 23640974, pages 183–184:
- [W]hat Virtue there is in this Remedy lies in the naked Simple it ſelf, as it comes over from the Indies, and in the Choice of that which is leaſt dried, or periſhed by the Voyage.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, London: The Egoist Press, published October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
- The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples. Want to be careful.
- 2003, Dolores Stewart Riccio, Charmed Circle, Kensington Books (→ISBN), page 12:
- The venerable carryall, formerly brimming with all manner of esoteric pamphlets and witch's simples, now overflowed with a cascade of soft toys, juice bottles, tissues, linen books for infants, […]
- (obsolete, by extension) A physician.
- (logic) A simple or atomic proposition.
- (obsolete) Something not mixed or compounded.
- c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- But it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels
- (weaving) A drawloom.
- (weaving) Part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom.
- (Roman Catholicism) A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
simple (third-person singular simple present simples, present participle simpling, simple past and past participle simpled)
- (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To gather simples, i.e. medicinal herbs.
Derived termsEdit
AnagramsEdit
AsturianEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple (epicene, plural simples)
- simple (uncomplicated)
SynonymsEdit
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple (masculine and feminine plural simples)
Derived termsEdit
- fulla simple (“simple leaf”)
- simplement (“simply”)
Related termsEdit
- símplex (“simplex”)
- simplicitat (“simplicity”)
- ximple
Further readingEdit
- “simple” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “simple” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
- “simple”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2022
ChavacanoEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Spanish simple (“simple”).
AdjectiveEdit
simple
EsperantoEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdverbEdit
simple
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French, borrowed from Latin simplex.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
10 | ||
1 | 2 → | |
---|---|---|
Cardinal: un Ordinal: premier Multiplier: simple |
simple (plural simples)
- single (multiplier)
- comptabilité en partie simple et double
- single-entry and double-entry bookkeping
- passer du simple au double, du simple au triple...
- to double, triple...
- simple
- Un homme simple
- A simple man
- one-way
- Un billet simple
- A one-way ticket
- mere
- Un simple soldat
- A mere soldier
Usage notesEdit
The second and third meanings are taken when the adjective is placed after the noun. The fourth meaning is taken when it is located before the noun.
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- → Romanian: simplu
NounEdit
simple m (plural simples)
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “simple”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
GalicianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin simplex. Displaced Old Portuguese simplez.
AdjectiveEdit
simple m or f (plural simples)
GermanEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
- inflection of simpel:
LatinEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
Middle EnglishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
- Alternative form of symple
NounEdit
simple
- Alternative form of symple
Norwegian BokmålEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
Norwegian NynorskEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
Old FrenchEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple m (oblique and nominative feminine singular simple)
DescendantsEdit
RomanianEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
SpanishEdit
10 | ||
1 | 2 → | |
---|---|---|
Cardinal: uno Ordinal: primero Multiplier: simple |
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple (plural simples)
- simple (uncomplicated)
- (before the noun) mere, ordinary
- Synonym: mero
- Soy un simple pescador. ― I'm just a fisherman.
- simple, single (not divided into parts)
- Antonym: compuesto
- simple-minded, stupid
- insipid, flavorless
- Synonym: soso
- (grammar) simple
Usage notesEdit
A way to think of the difference between simple and sencillo, which both mean "simple" in English, is that the antonym of simple is complejo (“complex”), whereas the antonym of sencillo is complicado (“complicated”).
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- Chavacano: simple
NounEdit
simple m or f (plural simples)
- simpleton, fool
- (pharmacology, masculine only) simple
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “simple”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
SwedishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
AnagramsEdit
TagalogEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
simple
- simple; easy to do
- common; ordinary
- Synonyms: karaniwan, pangkaraniwan
- easy to understand
- simple; plain
- Synonym: payak
- (grammar) simple
- Synonym: payak