SIMPLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does simple mean? 

• SIMPLE (noun)
  The noun SIMPLE has 2 senses:

1. any herbaceous plant having medicinal properties

2. a person lacking intelligence or common sense

  Familiarity information: SIMPLE used as a noun is rare.

• SIMPLE (adjective)
  The adjective SIMPLE has 7 senses:

1. having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved

2. easy and not involved or complicated

3. apart from anything else; without additions or modifications

4. exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity

5. lacking mental capacity and subtlety

6. (botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions

7. unornamented

  Familiarity information: SIMPLE used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIMPLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any herbaceous plant having medicinal properties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("simple" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person lacking intelligence or common sense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

simple; simpleton

Hypernyms ("simple" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "simple"):

forgetful person; scatterbrain (a flighty and disorganized person)

twerp; twirp; twit (someone who is regarded as contemptible)

subnormal (a person of less than normal intelligence)

dolt; dullard; pillock; poor fish; pudden-head; pudding head; stupe; stupid; stupid person (a person who is not very bright)

lame; square (someone who doesn't understand what is going on)

space cadet (someone who seems unable to respond appropriately to reality (as if under the influence of some narcotic drug))

sheep (a timid defenseless simpleton who is readily preyed upon)

schnook; shnook ((Yiddish) a gullible simpleton more to be pitied than despised)

schlep; schlepper; shlep; shlepper ((Yiddish) an awkward and stupid person)

schlemiel; shlemiel ((Yiddish) a dolt who is a habitual bungler)

airhead (a flighty scatterbrained simpleton)

nincompoop; ninny; poop (a stupid foolish person)

nebbech; nebbish ((Yiddish) a timid unfortunate simpleton)

idiot savant (person who is mentally retarded in general but who displays remarkable aptitude in some limited field (usually involving memory))

changeling; cretin; half-wit; idiot; imbecile; moron; retard (a person of subnormal intelligence)

fool; muggins; sap; saphead; tomfool (a person who lacks good judgment)

boob; booby; dope; dumbbell; dummy; pinhead (an ignorant or foolish person)

dingbat (a silly empty-headed person)

dimwit; doofus; half-wit; nitwit (a stupid incompetent person)

• SIMPLE (adjective)

Comparative: simpler   
Superlative: simplest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved

Context example:

a simple substance

Similar:

simplex (having only one part or element)

simplistic (characterized by extreme and often misleading simplicity)

unanalyzable; undecomposable (representing the furthest possible extent of analysis or division into parts)

uncomplicated; unsophisticated (lacking complexity)

Also:

easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)

plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)

simple; unsubdivided ((botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions)

Attribute:

complexity; complexness (the quality of being intricate and compounded)

Antonym:

complex (complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts)

Derivation:

simpleness; simplicity (the quality of being simple or uncompounded)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Easy and not involved or complicated

Synonyms:

elementary; simple; uncomplicated; unproblematic

Context example:

found an uncomplicated solution to the problem

Similar:

easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)

Derivation:

simpleness; simplicity (freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Apart from anything else; without additions or modifications

Synonyms:

bare; mere; simple

Context example:

the simple truth

Similar:

plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity

Synonyms:

childlike; dewy-eyed; round-eyed; simple; wide-eyed

Context example:

listened in round-eyed wonder

Similar:

naif; naive (marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience)

Derivation:

simpleness; simplicity (a lack of penetration or subtlety)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lacking mental capacity and subtlety

Synonyms:

dim-witted; simple; simple-minded

Similar:

retarded (relatively slow in mental or emotional or physical development)

Derivation:

simpleness (a lack of penetration or subtlety)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions

Synonyms:

simple; unsubdivided

Similar:

three-needled ((of conifers) having three needles)

elliptic ((of a leaf shape) in the form of an ellipse)

four-needled ((of conifers) having four needles)

five-needled ((of conifers) having five needles)

obtuse ((of a leaf shape) rounded at the apex)

oblanceolate ((of a leaf shape) having a broad rounded apex and a tapering base)

oblong ((of a leaf shape) having a somewhat elongated form with approximately parallel sides)

obovate ((of a leaf shape) egg-shaped with the narrower end at the base)

orbicular; orbiculate (circular or nearly circular)

ovate (of a leaf shape; egg-shaped with the broader end at the base)

fiddle-shaped; pandurate; panduriform ((of a leaf shape) having rounded ends and a contracted center)

peltate; shield-shaped ((of a leaf shape) round, with the stem attached near the center of the lower surface rather than the margin (as a nasturtium leaf for example))

perfoliate ((of a leaf) having the base united around (and apparently pierced by) the stem)

kidney-shaped; reniform ((of a leaf or bean shape) resembling the shape of kidney)

arrow-shaped; sagittate; sagittiform ((of a leaf shape) like an arrow head without flaring base lobes)

spatula-shaped; spatulate ((of a leaf shape) having a broad rounded apex and a narrow base)

unlobed (without lobes)

needled (of trees whose leaves are acerate)

acerate; acerose; acicular; needle-shaped (narrow and long and pointed; as pine leaves)

acuminate ((of a leaf shape) narrowing to a slender point)

apiculate ((of a leaf shape) having a short sharply pointed tip)

caudate ((of a leaf shape) tapering gradually into a long taillike tip)

cordate; cordiform; heart-shaped ((of a leaf) shaped like a heart)

cuneate; wedge-shaped ((of a leaf shape) narrowly triangular, wider at the apex and tapering toward the base)

deltoid (triangular or suggesting a capital delta, with a point at the apex)

bladelike; ensiform; sword-shaped; swordlike (shaped like a sword blade)

hastate; spearhead-shaped ((of a leaf shape) like a spear point, with flaring pointed lobes at the base)

lancelike; lanceolate ((of a leaf shape) shaped like a lance head; narrow and tapering to a pointed apex)

elongate; linear ((of a leaf shape) long and narrow)

lyrate ((of a leaf shape) having curvature suggestive of a lyre)

two-needled ((of conifers) having two needles)

dolabrate; dolabriform (having the shape of the head of an ax or cleaver)

Also:

smooth (of the margin of a leaf shape; not broken up into teeth)

simple (having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved)

Domain category:

botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)

Antonym:

compound (composed of more than one part)

Derivation:

simplicity (the quality of being simple or uncompounded)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Unornamented

Context example:

her black dress--simple to austerity

Similar:

plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)

Derivation:

simpleness; simplicity (lack of ornamentation)

 Context examples 

It's simple, but handsome, and those folds over the arm are really artistic.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The epithelium of the endocervix, which consists of simple columnar cells.

(Cervix Glandular Epithelium, NCI Thesaurus)

Simple carbohydrates include sugars found naturally in foods such as fruits, vegetables, milk, and milk products.

(Carbohydrates, NIH)

Of course the calculation now was a simple one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Murdstone, she said, shaking her finger at him, you were a tyrant to the simple baby, and you broke her heart.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With the simpler creatures, good and bad are things simply understood.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But then a simpler and more natural explanation came to my mind.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had not thought a simple sound could be so beautiful.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As symptoms get worse, people with the disease may have trouble walking, talking, or doing simple tasks.

(Parkinson's Disease, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

“Then you are fretting about General Tilney, and that is very simple of you; for ten to one whether you ever see him again. You should never fret about trifles.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)