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
Isaac Schorr, The Washington Examiner, 8 Aug. 2025
Wolff, influenced by predecessors, considered this binary view of human disease too simplistic.
—Tom Zeller Jr.
july 30, Literary Hub, 30 July 2025
That simplistic assessment would not account for the first student’s misery or the second child’s enjoyment.
—Iddo Gefen, Twin Cities, 16 July 2025
The stone had been carved into a simplistic figure of a woman, and it was shown to a member of the Parsęta Exploration and Search Group.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 23 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Simplistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simplistic. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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simplistic
adjective
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