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
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2025
Moviegoers in Mexico likewise weren’t impressed, taking issue with the film’s jumble of Spanish accents, its simplistic treatment of drug violence in the country and what some described as pervasive inauthenticity.
—Jake Coyle, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2025
But is that too simplistic a way to think about why dryness leads to fires that can get out of control?
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
The simplistic lessons from back then were to favor real-economy and reflation plays and to assume the market could ignore an erratic policy-making process if help on taxes and regulation came before high-friction trade restrictions.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 6 Jan. 2025
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“Simplistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simplistic. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
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simplistic
adjective
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