SIMPLICITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does simplicity mean? 

• SIMPLICITY (noun)
  The noun SIMPLICITY has 5 senses:

1. the quality of being simple or uncompounded

2. a lack of penetration or subtlety

3. absence of affectation or pretense

4. freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

5. lack of ornamentation

  Familiarity information: SIMPLICITY used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIMPLICITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being simple or uncompounded

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

simpleness; simplicity

Context example:

the simplicity of a crystal

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

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Antonym:

complexity (the quality of being intricate and compounded)

Derivation:

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

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

A lack of penetration or subtlety

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

simple mindedness; simpleness; simplicity

Context example:

they took advantage of her simplicity

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

naiveness; naivete; naivety (lack of sophistication or worldliness)

Derivation:

simple (exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity)

simple-minded (lacking mental capacity and subtlety)

simple-minded (lacking subtlety and insight)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Absence of affectation or pretense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

simmpleness; simplicity

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

naturalness (the quality of being natural or based on natural principles)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ease; easiness; simpleness; simplicity

Context example:

the very easiness of the deed held her back

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

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)

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

effortlessness (the quality of requiring little effort)

Derivation:

simple (easy and not involved or complicated)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lack of ornamentation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

chasteness; restraint; simpleness; simplicity

Context example:

the room was simply decorated with great restraint

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

plainness (the appearance of being plain and unpretentious)

Derivation:

simple (unornamented)

 Context examples 

Life in the Northland was simplicity itself when compared with the complicated affairs of Sierra Vista.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

BMI is the most commonly-used metric to measure obesity levels due to its simplicity, however, it is limited as BMI looks at total weight, including ‘healthy’ muscle mass, rather than fat mass alone.

(Children who walk to school less likely to be overweight or obese, study suggests, University of Cambridge)

The nature and the simplicity of gentlemen and ladies, with their servants and furniture, I think is best observed by meals within doors.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“Surely my deductions are simplicity itself,” said he.

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

His goodness of heart and simplicity of character were irresistible.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

There is such a quiet simplicity in the plan of the walk!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It is that surface simplicity of theirs which makes a trap for the stranger.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘It is simplicity itself,’ said I.

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

"So in my simplicity, I had imagined," said the Professor, bitterly.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I rose; I dressed myself with care: obliged to be plain—for I had no article of attire that was not made with extreme simplicity—I was still by nature solicitous to be neat.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)