simplistic
adjective
Harlow RobinsonMatt RidleyNaomi Rosenblum
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The facts of nature and of life are more apt to be complex than simple. Simplistic theories are generally one-sided and partial, wrote the American clergyman James Freeman Clarke in the 19th century, nicely illustrating the difference between plain, ordinary simple and the then-new adjective simplistic. Simplistic is generally synonymous with oversimplified, but we didn't have the verb oversimplify and its participle oversimplified until well into the 20th century. Simplistic is sometimes used in the neutral sense of "not complicated" (in which case it is synonymous with simple) but this borders on misuse-simplistic is generally understood to be pejorative.
Examples of simplistic in a Sentence
David Doty, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Such analysis is overly simplistic, failing to account for Soto’s impact on attendance and other forms of revenue.
—Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
Some were perplexed by its location, while others were enchanted by the simplistic nature of a home from a time long gone.
—Tj MacIas, Kansas City Star, 24 Mar. 2025
The animation in short films up until that point had been silly, vaudeville-inflected; mostly featuring animals because humans were too hard to draw in an appealing way — mostly with static and unchanging expressions, on flat, simplistic backgrounds.
—Constance Grady, Vox, 21 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Simplistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simplistic. Accessed 12 Apr. 2025.
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simplistic
adjective
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