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:
Given the sophistication of contemporary TV coverage, “it’s almost preferable to stay home and watch your favorite games on the big screen hanging on your den wall,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
They were each charged with unlawful taking of a vehicle and second-degree burglary — both counts enhanced with allegations that they have prior criminal records and the crimes required sophistication and professionalism to carry out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 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
As good as everyone else was, she sometimes seemed to achieve a superior level of intelligence and sophistication as an actor.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
“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
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
Another 500 years later, with Tennyson's pious allegories, Mark Twain's farce, John Erskine's sophistications, etc.,
From Time Magazine Archive
Amid ceaseless sophistications all times, the soul would seem to glance yearningly around for such contrasts—such cool, still offsets.
From Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Whitman, Walt
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.
