sophistication
Americannoun
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sophisticated character, ideas, tastes, or ways as the result of education, worldly experience, etc..
the sophistication of the wealthy.
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change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition.
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complexity, as in design or organization.
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impairment or debasement, as of purity or genuineness.
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the use of sophistry; a sophism, quibble, or fallacious argument.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sophistication
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Medieval Latin sophisticātiōn-, stem of sophisticātiō; equivalent to sophisticate + -ion
Explanation
Sophistication is the quality that belongs to a person who appears wise and glamorous. Sipping tea and appreciating opera are both stereotypical signs of sophistication. The noun sophistication can also be used in a slightly different way, to describe a deep understanding, or an almost enlightened state. Before the 1800s, sophistication meant "the use of sophistry," or using mistaken or deceitful arguments, although the root word for both sophistication and "sophistry" is the Greek sophistes, or "wise man."
Vocabulary lists containing sophistication
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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I Was Their American Dream
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Content Summary 4.7: Early Modern Western Society and Culture
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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.
See Examples For:
Clement Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, said on X that the company had suspected the cyberattack had come from a world-leading AI lab, given the sophistication of the agent.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
"This work highlights how much sophistication exists inside insect societies," Baer said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
His instincts are impeccable, but he's yet to acquire the sophistication of Ian Fleming's character, much less a licence to kill.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
However, the scale and sophistication of the passageway discovered under the Buy 4 Less was particularly notable, prosecutors said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Henry Dobbins was a good man, and a superb soldier, but sophistication was not his strong suit.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
“It is as if she had returned from some noble-nonsense war movie of the 1940’s to suggest an area of human response that the masterly sophistications of ‘M.A.S.H.’ are unaware of.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
“It was so long that its sophistications were less visible,” she said, laughing, and added that she initially resisted suggested cuts.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2012
The trouble is that we have not yet attained several sophistications that are necessary for its successful operation.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the Domain, a modern enclave built by the President for useful foreigners and technocrats, Salim is introduced to the casual sophistications of the Big Man's white men and the records of Joan Baez.
From Time Magazine Archive
It will be noticed, however, that some of the sophistications are comparatively harmless, whilst others are effected by substances deleterious to health.
From A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy by Accum, Friedrich Christian
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.
