simplify

English

Etymology

From the French simplifier.

Also see simple and -ify.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/, /ˈsɪmpləfaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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Verb

simplify (third-person singular simple present simplifies, present participle simplifying, simple past and past participle simplified)

1. (transitive) To make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.
   • 1949, Karl August Wittfogel, Fêng Chia-Shêng, “Translation: Tribes”, in History of Chinese Society Liao (907-1125)‎, American Philosophical Society, →OCLC, page 104:

     In ancient times there existed in the region of the Tung-chia River 佟佳江 in present Liaoning a people called Kao-chü-li 高句驪. In the fifth century they moved their capital to P’ing-jang. The name of the country was simplified to Kao-li 高麗 (Korea).

   • 2021 October 6, “Network News: Lords hear fares and ticketing are key areas for improvement”, in RAIL, number 941, page 22:

     Quizzed on simplifying fares, Heaton-Harris said the Government had inherited a "mix of ticketing and unbelievable, interesting fares up and down the system, and we do want to simplify them".

2. (intransitive) To become simpler.
   • 2006, Karen Oslund, “Reading Backwards: Language Politics and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia”, in David L. Hoyt, Karen Oslund, editors, The Study of Language and the Politics of Community in Global Context‎, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 126:

     Thus, throughout the nineteenth century, linguists generally held that more grammatically complex languages were older and that languages tended to simplify over time—the four grammatical cases of German as contrasted with the seven of Latin, for example.

Synonyms

• decomplexify, decomplicate, uncomplicate

Derived terms

• oversimplify
• simplification
• simplifier

Translations