unsophisticated
Americanadjective
-
not sophisticated; simple; artless.
- Synonyms:
- inexperienced, naive, ingenuous
-
without complexity or refinements.
a relatively unsophisticated mechanism.
-
unadulterated; pure; genuine.
adjective
-
lacking experience or worldly wisdom
-
marked by a lack of refinement or complexity
an unsophisticated machine
-
unadulterated or genuine
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unsophisticated
First recorded in 1620–30; un- 1 + sophisticated
Vocabulary lists containing unsophisticated
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He added that “unfortunately, many unsophisticated investors will be left holding the bag in the end.”
From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026
Everything fell: oil prices, the dollar, even gold, because investors were shocked by how unsophisticated and draconian the policy was.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
I didn’t realize it at the time, but there was also insecurity there: An American embarrassed by a rough, unsophisticated America, envious of Europe’s aristocratic polish.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
Bogan, a term which first emerged in Australia in the 1980s, initially meant an "unsophisticated and uncultured person" with negative connotations, but not for Louis.
From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025
He did time for that, something neither he nor Mommy ever told us about, though I always wondered how a guy who seemed so unsophisticated could be so clever at checkers.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
