sophistication
[suh-fis-ti-key-shuh n]
noun
sophisticated character, ideas, tastes, or ways as the result of education, worldly experience, etc.: the sophistication of the wealthy.
change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition.
complexity, as in design or organization.
impairment or debasement, as of purity or genuineness.
the use of sophistry; a sophism, quibble, or fallacious argument.
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RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- sophist,
- sophister,
- sophistic,
- sophisticate,
- sophisticated,
- sophistries,
- sophistry,
- sophists,
- sophoclean,
- sophocles
Origin of sophistication
1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin sophisticātiōn- (stem of sophisticātiō), equivalent to sophisticāt(us) (see sophisticate) + -iōn- -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for sophistication
sophistication
early 15c., "use of sophistry; fallacious argument intended to mislead; adulteration; an adulterated or adulterating substance," from Medieval Latin sophisticationem (nominative sophisticatio), noun of action from past participle stem of sophisticare "adulterate, cheat quibble," from Latin sophisticus "of sophists," from Greek sophistikos "of or pertaining to a sophist," from sophistes "a wise man, master, teacher" (see sophist). Meaning "wordly wisdom, refinement, discrimination" is attested from 1850.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper