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Synonyms

sophisticate

American  
[suh-fis-ti-kit, -keyt, suh-fis-ti-keyt] / səˈfɪs tɪ kɪt, -ˌkeɪt, səˈfɪs tɪˌkeɪt /

noun

  1. a sophisticated person.

adjective

  1. sophisticated.

verb (used with object)

sophisticated, sophisticating

  1. to make less natural, simple, or ingenuous; make worldly-wise.

  2. to alter; pervert.

    to sophisticate a meaning beyond recognition.

verb (used without object)

sophisticated, sophisticating

  1. to use sophistry; quibble.

sophisticate British  

verb

  1. (tr) to make (someone) less natural or innocent, as by education

  2. to pervert or corrupt (an argument, etc) by sophistry

  3. (tr) to make more complex or refined

  4. rare to falsify (a text, etc) by alterations

"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

noun

  1. a sophisticated person

"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

Other Word Forms

  • outsophisticate verb (used with object)
  • sophistication noun
  • sophisticator noun

Etymology

Origin of sophisticate

1350–1400; Middle English (adj. and v.) < Medieval Latin sophisticātus (past participle of sophisticāre to tamper with, disguise, trick with words), equivalent to Latin sophistic ( us ) ( sophistic ) + -ātus -ate 1

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.

Social media algorithms are sophisticated, and what's on your feed can vary wildly from someone else's; a lot of the content is targeted based on your interests and online profile.

From BBC

“It was a kind of a sophisticated sound,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Backed by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, among others, KoBold says machine learning allows it to collect and analyze more sophisticated data about deposits than conventional exploration methods.

From The Wall Street Journal

Back then, investors were worried about a Chinese artificial-intelligence startup that said it was able to train a sophisticated AI model with far less compute than what other developers seemed to require.

From MarketWatch

Go for the sea views and breakwater strolls, as well as a sophisticated crafts market.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.