sophisticated

[suh-fis-ti-key-tid]

adjective

1. (of a person, ideas, tastes, manners, etc.) altered by education, experience, etc., so as to be worldly-wise; not naive.

   a sophisticated young socialite;

   the sophisticated eye of an experienced journalist.

   Synonyms: cultivated, experienced, cosmopolitan, worldly
   Antonyms: naive

2. pleasing or satisfactory to the tastes of sophisticates, or people who are educated, cultured, and worldly-wise.

   sophisticated music.

3. deceptive; misleading.

4. complex or intricate, as a system, process, piece of machinery, or the like.

   a sophisticated electronic control system.

5. of, for, or reflecting educated taste, knowledgeable use, etc..

   Many Americans are drinking more sophisticated wines now.

sophisticated

/ səˈfɪstɪˌkeɪtɪd /

adjective

1. having refined or cultured tastes and habits

2. appealing to sophisticates

   a sophisticated restaurant

3. unduly refined or cultured

4. pretentiously or superficially wise

5. (of machines, methods, etc) complex and refined

Other Word Forms

• sophisticatedly adverb
• hypersophisticated adjective
• hypersophisticatedly adverb
• oversophisticated adjective
• supersophisticated adjective
• ultrasophisticated adjective
• ultrasophisticatedly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of sophisticated¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; sophisticate + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Burgess says the company’s tech is sophisticated enough at predicting floods to reliably attract insurance capital.

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Not so much because they were unexpected, which they were, but because sophisticated investors including some of the nation’s biggest banks and asset managers overlooked blazing red flags.

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When a new tool arrives that promises to make everyone more productive—advanced Excel features, sophisticated customer-relationship-management systems or powerful analytics platforms—who actually masters it first?

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Managers of private assets say they want to democratize investing by letting regular savers invest in areas pensions, endowments and other sophisticated investors have long had access to.

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While AMD’s hardware is sophisticated enough to compete with its bigger rival, the article said, its software platform was full of bugs and impossible to use in large-scale AI training.

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Related Words

• complicated 
• delicate 
• intricate 
• modern 
• refined 
• subtle