pure and simple

1. No more and no less, plainly so, as in This so-called educational video is really a game, pure and simple. This expression is very nearly redundant, since pure and simple here mean “plain” and “unadorned.” Oscar Wilde played on it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895): “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” [Second half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

"The complaints went to head office to be dealt with. However, no one sees this as a head office problem; it's a Kent problem. Pure and simple."

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., has called this approach “mafia-style blackmail, pure and simple,” according to The Washington Post, and “a gross abuse of power” that will continue to prompt legal challenges.

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This, the body said, "constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating".

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In June, the streets of Ballymena in County Antrim saw several nights of violence disorder, described by police as "racist thuggery, pure and simple".

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The president seems to be engaging in blackmail, pure and simple.

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Related Words

• authentic 
• bright 
• classic 
• natural 
• neat 
• perfect 
• plain 
• real 
• simple 
• transparent 
• true 
• unadulterated