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
- unsophisticatedly adverb
- unsophisticatedness noun
- unsophistication noun
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.
Knowing that Rocky’s voice would come from Grace’s unsophisticated computer setup, Ortiz gathered inspirations, at times subconsciously, from a variety of robotic sources.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
Nobody wants to be unsophisticated, or a prude.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025
Working class people are frequently portrayed as lazy, uneducated, or unsophisticated, but we also have a long history of recognizing their hard work, savvy, and perseverance.
From Salon • Aug. 4, 2024
For a long time, scientists considered Neanderthals brutish and unsophisticated by comparison with our species.
From BBC • May 1, 2024
I had come to the army as an escape from my life—as many men did, I suppose—and though I’d had a complex and rougher childhood than most, I was still virtually unsophisticated.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
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.
