simplistic

adjective

sim·​plis·​tic sim-ˈpli-stik 

: excessively simple or simplified : treating a problem or subject with false simplicity by omitting or ignoring complicating factors or details

adequate, if occasionally simplistic, historical background

—Harlow Robinson

The simplistic headlines of the press can be very misleading.

—Matt Ridley

Choosing wars as demarcations of cultural time segments may seem simplistic, but there is little question that a new sensibility made its appearance in the United States after World War II.

—Naomi Rosenblum

simplistically

sim-ˈpli-sti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Did you know?

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

a simplistic approach to a complicated problem

His interpretation of the theory was too simplistic.

Recent Examples on the Web

Any suggestion that a phone maker can simply shift its manufacturing base away from China to India is overly simplistic. —Andrew Williams, WIRED, 7 Dec. 2024

Which is yet more evidence that deficits will soar not due to a lack of government revenues or too much government spending (both analyses were always simplistic), but because our federal government is sadly poised to take in exponentially more tax revenue in the future. —John Tamny, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024

The two men square off with verbal arguments regarding the acre’s worth of gray area between right and wrong, and while Crowe’s character has righteousness on his side, Washington’s gangster has both the gift of gab and a knack for knocking such simplistic notions into the dirt. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Dec. 2024

Stock down: Mike McDaniel The simplistic, one-dimensional offense (get the ball to Hill) continues to get exposed. —Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

simplistic

adjective

sim·​plis·​tic sim-ˈplis-tik 

1

: simple sense 8

2

: characterized by too much simplicity : not involving or dealing with related complexities

a simplistic explanation of the situation

simplistically

-ti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb