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as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily don't be so quick to characterize people who have trouble with computers as simple

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective simple contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of simple are easy, effortless, facile, light, and smooth. While all these words mean "not demanding effort or involving difficulty," simple stresses ease in understanding or dealing with because complication is absent.

a simple problem in arithmetic

When could easy be used to replace simple?

The meanings of easy and simple largely overlap; however, easy is applicable either to persons or things imposing tasks or to activity required by such tasks.

an easy college course

In what contexts can effortless take the place of simple?

While the synonyms effortless and simple are close in meaning, effortless stresses the appearance of ease and usually implies the prior attainment of artistry or expertness.

moving with effortless grace

How are the words facile and easy related as synonyms of simple?

Facile often adds to easy the connotation of undue haste or shallowness.

facile answers to complex questions

When is light a more appropriate choice than simple?

Although the words light and simple have much in common, light stresses freedom from what is burdensome.

a light teaching load

When is it sensible to use smooth instead of simple?

The synonyms smooth and simple are sometimes interchangeable, but smooth stresses the absence or removal of all difficulties, hardships, or obstacles.

a smooth ride

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of simple But what stuck with me was much simpler. Hassan Hassan, Time, 11 Oct. 2025 Actually, the reason is a very simple one. Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 11 Oct. 2025 Initially, Luna wanted to go more subtle, eschewing the collar and wearing a simple black shirt. Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2025 This simple step before beginning a project is the easiest way to prevent wavering between keeping an item or discarding it. Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 11 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for simple
Recent Examples of Synonyms for simple
Adjective
  • Caving—which is the more extreme cousin to spelunking—is physically and mentally challenging but also adrenaline fueled and just plain fun, too.
    Heide Brandes, AFAR Media, 15 Oct. 2025
  • And those, including a defense of quarterback Beau Pribula, were plain and worthy on Tuesday in the wake of MU’s first loss of the season last Saturday against Alabama.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Other mail services should be largely unaffected.
    MSNBC Newsweek, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
  • That leaves Wednesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting as the main economic report to watch in the coming week as the central bank is self-funded and unaffected by the shutdown.
    Danny Bakst, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The 3,479,500 copies in pure album sales for the first week set a record on Billboard’s sales chart, of course.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025
  • When there's no thesis or insight, this series feels dangerously close to pure exploitation of a tragedy real people have endured.
    Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Old-school phishing emails were easy to spot because of typos and bad grammar.
    Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 Oct. 2025
  • While allowed, breaking away from it would not be easy for Pennsylvania—or any other state which is currently served by it.
    Giulia Carbonaro, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The Guerida line nodding to private estate La Querida and its white façades, emerald green lawns and ocean views offered a more naïve take on the colored theme by mean of hearts and floral motifs juxtaposed in a ring, bracelet and pendant earrings.
    Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Even when their views are naive or ill-considered, protesters are among the minority of people willing to take risks and devote time and energy to the pursuit of a better world.
    Christopher L. Eisgruber, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The pilot has moments both sweet and funny, and sets up the possibility of romance amongst the characters, as well as further high jinks from a rotating cast of license seekers and citizens ignorant of the requirements for a Real ID.
    Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 11 Oct. 2025
  • At the time, central Appalachia was widely depicted in the popular press as a backward, ignorant region whose mountainous terrain kept its people isolated, outside the flow of progress – a stereotype still common today.
    The Conversation, The Conversation, 7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • There was also, perhaps, general irritation at the idea that such a successful team should be the recipient of so much dumb luck.
    Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Many students have acted boldly, and occasionally made dumb mistakes, because they were outraged by historical wrongs, incendiary speakers, cultural stereotypes, or other provocations.
    Christopher L. Eisgruber, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The white bare trees evoke the antlers featured in the background of this sequence from 1952's Lovely to Look At, which Duquette designed specially with Vincente Minnelli (who directed only this scene in the Mervyn LeRoy film).
    Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2025
  • With the country music landscape now punctuated by a generation of young songwriters laying bare personal trauma and intense heartache, Whitcomb wanted his first full-length to capture his life so far, darkness be damned.
    Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Simple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/simple. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.

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