Simple

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: sim=ple

CIDE DICTIONARY

Simple, a. [F., fr. L. simplus, or simplex, gen. simplicis. The first part of the Latin words is probably akin to E. same, and the sense, one, one and the same; cf. L. semel once, singuli one to each, single. Cg. Single, a., Same, a., and for the last part of the word cf. Double, Complex.].

•  Single; not complex; not infolded or entangled; uncombined; not compounded; not blended with something else; not complicated; as, a simple substance; a simple idea; a simple sound; a simple machine; a simple problem; simple tasks.  [1913 Webster]
•  Plain; unadorned; as, simple dress.  [1913 Webster]
•  Mere; not other than; being only.  [1913 Webster]

  "A medicine . . . whose simple touch
  Is powerful to araise King Pepin."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not given to artifice, stratagem, or duplicity; undesigning; sincere; true.  [1913 Webster]

  "Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them."  [1913 Webster]

  "Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue?"  [1913 Webster]

  "To be simple is to be great."  [1913 Webster]
•  Artless in manner; unaffected; unconstrained; natural; inartificial;; straightforward.  [1913 Webster]

  "In simple manners all the secret lies."  [1913 Webster]
•  Direct; clear; intelligible; not abstruse or enigmatical; as, a simple statement; simple language.  [1913 Webster]
•  Weak in intellect; not wise or sagacious; of but moderate understanding or attainments; hence, foolish; silly.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not luxurious; without much variety; plain; as, a simple diet; a simple way of living.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thy simple fare and all thy plain delights."  [1913 Webster]
•  Humble; lowly; undistinguished.  [1913 Webster]

  "A simple husbandman in garments gray."  [1913 Webster]

  "Clergy and laity, male and female, gentle and simple made the fuel of the same fire."  [1913 Webster]
•  Without subdivisions; entire; as, a simple stem; a simple leaf.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not capable of being decomposed into anything more simple or ultimate by any means at present known; elementary; thus, atoms are regarded as simple bodies. Cf. Ultimate, a.  [1913 Webster]

  " A simple body is one that has not as yet been decomposed. There are indications that many of our simple elements are still compound bodies, though their actual decomposition into anything simpler may never be accomplished."  [1913 Webster]
•  Homogenous.  [1913 Webster]
•  Consisting of a single individual or zooid; as, a simple ascidian; -- opposed to compound.  [1913 Webster]

  "I am a simple woman, much too weak
  To oppose your cunning."  [1913 Webster]

  "He is the companion of the silliest people in their most silly pleasure; he is ready for every impertinent entertainment and diversion."  [1913 Webster]

Simple contract (Law), any contract, whether verbal or written, which is not of record or under seal. J. W. Smith. Chitty. -- Simple equation (Alg.), an equation containing but one unknown quantity, and that quantity only in the first degree. -- Simple eye (Zoöl.), an eye having a single lens; -- opposed to compound eye. -- Simple interest. See under Interest. -- Simple larceny. (Law) See under Larceny. -- Simple obligation (Rom. Law), an obligation which does not depend for its execution upon any event provided for by the parties, or is not to become void on the happening of any such event. Burrill.

Syn. -- Single; uncompounded; unmingled; unmixed; mere; uncombined; elementary; plain; artless; sincere; harmless; undesigning; frank; open; unaffected; inartificial; unadorned; credulous; silly; foolish; shallow; unwise.

Simple, n. [F. See Simple, a.].

•  Something not mixed or compounded.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  A medicinal plant; -- so called because each vegetable was supposed to possess its particular virtue, and therefore to constitute a simple remedy.  [1913 Webster]

  "What virtue is in this remedy lies in the naked simple itself as it comes over from the Indies."  [1913 Webster]
•  A drawloom.  [1913 Webster]
•  A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.  [1913 Webster]

Simple, v. i. 

 To gather simples, or medicinal plants.  [1913 Webster]
"As simpling on the flowery hills she [Circe] strayed."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Simple, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty (a simple explanation; a simple task).
2 not complicated or elaborate; without luxury or sophistication.
3 not compound; consisting of or involving only one element or operation etc.
4 absolute, unqualified, straightforward (the simple truth; a simple majority).
5 foolish or ignorant; gullible, feeble-minded (am not so simple as to agree to that).
6 plain in appearance or manner; unsophisticated, ingenuous, artless.
7 of low rank; humble, insignificant (simple people).
8 Bot. a consisting of one part. b (of fruit) formed from one pistil.
--n. archaic 1 a herb used medicinally.
2 a medicine made from it.

Idiom

simple eye an eye of an insect, having only one lens. simple fracture a fracture of the bone only, without a skin wound. simple harmonic motion see HARMONIC. simple interest interest payable on a capital sum only (cf. compound interest (see COMPOUND)). simple interval Mus. an interval of one octave or less. simple machine any of the basic mechanical devices for applying a force (e.g. an inclined plane, wedge, or lever). simple sentence a sentence with a single subject and predicate. Simple Simon a foolish person (from the nursery-rhyme character). simple time Mus. a time with two, three, or four beats in a bar.

Derivative

simpleness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L simplus

THESAURUS

Simple

Attic, Bohemian, Ciceronian, Mickey Mouse, Spartan, a certain, absolute, aesthetic, affable, amateur, an, any, any one, arrested, artistic, artless, ascetic, asinine, atomic, austere, authentic, awkward, babbling, backward, bald, bare, base, basic, blankminded, blithering, bluff, blunt, bona fide, born yesterday, bovine, brainless, burbling, butt, callow, candid, card-carrying, casual, chaste, cheerful, childish, childlike, choice, chump, classic, classical, clean, clean-cut, clear, clear as crystal, clear as day, clear-cut, coherent, comfortable, common, commonplace, comprehensible, confiding, connected, consistent, cordial, cozy, crackbrained, cracked, crass, crazy, creamy, credulous, cretinistic, cretinous, crisp, crystal-clear, crystalline, cullible, cushy, deceivable, defined, definite, degage, delicate, deludable, dense, dim-witted, dinkum, direct, discreet, distinct, dithering, dopey, doting, driveling, drooling, dry, dull, dull-witted, dumb, dupable, dupe, easily understood, easy, easy as pie, easygoing, effortless, eggshell, either, elegant, elemental, elementary, empty, empty-headed, essential, everyday, excellent, exclusive, explicit, exploitable, express, facile, fall guy, familiar, fatuous, feebleminded, finished, flat, folksy, following the letter, foolable, foolish, forthright, frank, free and easy, friendly, fundamental, garden, garden-variety, gauche, genuine, glib, gloss, good, graceful, gracile, gracious, green, groping, guileless, gull, gullible, half-baked, half-witted, haymish, hoaxable, homelike, homely, homespun, homey, homish, homogeneous, honest, honest-to-God, hoodwinkable, household, humble, humble-looking, humble-visaged, humblest, humbugable, idiotic, ignorant, illiterate, imbecile, imbecilic, in good taste, inane, inartificial, incomplex, individual, indivisible, inexperienced, inexpert, inferior, informal, ingenu, ingenuous, inglorious, innocent, innocuous, insensate, integral, intelligible, intimate, iridescent, irreducible, irregular, know-nothing, lawful, lean, least, legitimate, lifelike, light, limpid, literal, lone, loose, loud and clear, low, lowest, lowliest, lowly, lucid, luminous, mark, matter-of-fact, maundering, mean, mellow, mentally defective, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, mentally retarded, mere, mindless, modest, monadic, mongoloid, monistic, monolithic, moronic, mother-of-pearl, nacreous, naive, naked, natural, naturalistic, neat, nescient, nitwitted, nondescript, not all there, nothing to it, oafish, obtuse, of a piece, of choice, of quality, offhand, offhanded, one, opalescent, open, openhearted, ordinary, original, outspoken, painless, pale, pastel, patinaed, peaceful, pearly, pellucid, perfect, perspicuous, persuadable, pigeon, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, pleasing, polished, poor, primal, primary, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pure, pure and simple, quiet, raw, real, realistic, refined, relaxed, restrained, retarded, righteous, rightful, round, royal, rustic, sad, sap, seduceable, semigloss, senseless, severe, sheer, silly, simon-pure, simple as ABC, simple-speaking, simplehearted, simpleminded, simpletonian, sincere, single, single-hearted, single-minded, singular, slobbering, slow, slow-witted, small, smooth, snug, sober, sociable, soft, soft-colored, soft-hued, softened, sole, solid, solitary, somber, spare, square, stark, sterling, straightforward, strange to, stupid, subdued, subnormal, subordinate, subservient, subtle, sucker, sure-enough, sweet, tasteful, teachable, tender, tentative, terse, thick, thickheaded, translucent, transparent, transpicuous, trim, true to life, true to nature, true to reality, trustful, trusting, unacquainted, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffected, unalloyed, unambiguous, unanalyzable, unapprized, unartificial, unassumed, unassuming, unburdensome, unceremonious, uncluttered, uncolored, uncomplicated, uncompounded, uncomprehending, unconcocted, unconfused, unconstrained, uncontrived, unconventional, unconversant, uncopied, uncounterfeited, undecorated, understandable, understated, undesigning, undifferenced, undifferentiated, undisguised, undisguising, undistinguished, undistorted, undivided, uneducated, unelaborate, unembellished, unenhanced, unenlightened, unequivocal, unexaggerated, unexperienced, unfabricated, unfamiliar, unfanciful, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious, unflattering, unguarded, uniform, unilluminated, unimaginative, unimagined, unimitated, unimportant, uninformed, uninitiated, unintelligent, uninvented, uninvolved, unique, unitary, univocal, unknowing, unlabored, unmistakable, unmitigated, unmixed, unobtrusive, unofficial, unornamented, unostentatious, unpoetical, unposted, unpretended, unpretending, unpretentious, unqualified, unreserved, unripe, unromantic, unschooled, unsimulated, unsophisticated, unspecious, unstudied, unsure, unsuspicious, unsynthetic, untaught, untroublesome, unvarnished, unversed, unwary, unwitty, upright, vacuous, verbal, verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, victimizable, weak-minded, well-chosen, well-defined, whole, witless, word-for-word, workaday, workday

ROGET THESAURUS

Simple

Plainness

N plainness, simplicity, severity, plain terms, plain English, Saxon English, household words, plain, simple, unornamented, unadorned, unvarnished, homely, homespun, neat, severe, chaste, pure, Saxon, commonplace, matter-of- fact, natural, prosaic, dry, unvaried, monotonous, in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance, point-blank.

Smallness

N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity, small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent, to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.

Simpleness

N simpleness, purity, homogeneity, elimination, sifting, purification, simple, uniform, of a piece, homogeneous, single, pure, sheer, neat, unmixed, unmingled, unblended, uncombined, uncompounded, elementary, undecomposed, unadulterated, unsophisticated, unalloyed, untinged, unfortified, pur et simple, incomplex, free from, exempt from, exclusive, simple, only, simpleness, purity, homogeneity, elimination, sifting, purification, simple, uniform, of a piece, homogeneous, single, pure, sheer, neat, unmixed, unmingled, unblended, uncombined, uncompounded, elementary, undecomposed, unadulterated, unsophisticated, unalloyed, untinged, unfortified, pur et simple, incomplex, free from, exempt from, exclusive, simple, only.

Artlessness

N artlessness, nature, simplicity, innocence, bonhomie, naivete, abandon, candor, sincerity, singleness of purpose, singleness of heart, honesty, plain speaking, epanchement, rough diamond, matter of fact man, le palais de verite, enfant terrible, artless, natural, pure, native, confiding, simple, lain, inartificial, untutored, unsophisticated, ingenu, unaffected, naive, sincere, frank, open, open as day, candid, ingenuous, guileless, unsuspicious, honest, innocent, Arcadian, undesigning, straightforward, unreserved, aboveboard, simple-minded, single-minded, frank-hearted, open-hearted, single-hearted, simple-hearted, free-spoken, plain-spoken, outspoken, blunt, downright, direct, matter of fact, unpoetical, unflattering, in plain words, in plain English, without mincing the matter, not to mince the matter, Davus sum non Oedipus, liberavi animam meam, as frank as rain on cherry blossoms.

Simplicity

N simplicity, plainness, homeliness, undress, chastity, simple, plain, homely, homespun, ordinary, household, unaffected, ingenuous, sincere (artless), free from affectation, free from ornament, simplex munditiis, sans facon, en deshabille, chaste, inornate, severe, unadorned, bare, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, unarranged, untrimmed, unvarnished, bald, flat, dull, veritatis simplex oratio est.

Credulity

N credulity, credulousness, cullibility, gullibility, gross credulity, infatuation, self delusion, self deception, superstition, one's blind side, bigotry, hyperorthodoxy, misjudgment, credulous person, credulous, gullible, easily deceived, simple, green, soft, childish, silly, stupid, easily convinced, over-credulous, over confident, over trustful, infatuated, superstitious, confiding, the wish the father to the thought, credo quia impossibile, all is not gold that glitters, no es oro todo lo que reluce, omne ignotum pro magnifico.

Folly

N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.