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simplify

[sim-pluh-fahy]
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verb (used with object), sim·pli·fied, sim·pli·fy·ing.
  1. to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier: to simplify a problem.
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Origin of simplify

1645–55; < French simplifier < Medieval Latin simplificāre to make simple, equivalent to Latin simpli- (combining form of simplus simple) + -ficāre -fy
Related formssim·pli·fi·ca·tion, nounsim·pli·fi·ca·tive, adjectivesim·pli·fi·er, sim·pli·fi·ca·tor, nounnon·sim·pli·fi·ca·tion, nounsu·per·sim·pli·fy, verb (used with object), su·per·sim·pli·fied, su·per·sim·pli·fy·ing.un·sim·pli·fied, adjectiveun·sim·pli·fy·ing, adjective
Can be confusedsimple simplified simplistic
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

explanationrenderingversionadaptationrenditionreadingtranscriptionstoryinterpretationformvarianttalereporttranslationhistoryresolutiondescriptionsimplificationelucidationgloss

Examples from the Web for simplification

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • What was saved by the simplification of the accounts remained as a pure gain.

    Freeland

    Theodor Hertzka

  • Generalisation is only an instinctive process of simplification.

  • This was based upon a simplification of Newtons seven primaries.

  • Mostly, he thought, it was the simplification that had come about.

    Ten From Infinity

    Paul W. Fairman

  • Any dramatic statement of these laws is a simplification as is a diagram or map.

    Here and Now Story Book

    Lucy Sprague Mitchell

British Dictionary definitions for simplification

simplify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)
  1. to make less complicated, clearer, or easier
  2. maths to reduce (an equation, fraction, etc) to a simpler form by cancellation of common factors, regrouping of terms in the same variable, etc
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Derived Formssimplification, nounsimplificative, adjectivesimplifier, noun

Word Origin

C17: via French from Medieval Latin simplificāre, from Latin simplus simple + facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for simplification

n.

1680s, from Middle French simplification "act or process of simplifying," from simplifier (see simplify).

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simplify

v.

1650s, from French simplifier "to make simpler" (15c.), from Medieval Latin simplificare "to simplify," from Latin simplex "simple" (see simplex) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Meaning "to make easier to do" is from 1759. Related: Simplified; simplifying.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper