sophistication

[suh-fis-ti-key-shuhn]

noun

1. sophisticated sophisticated character, ideas, tastes, or ways as the result of education, worldly experience, etc..

   the sophistication of the wealthy.

2. change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition.

3. complexity, as in design or organization.

4. impairment or debasement, as of purity or genuineness.

5. the use of sophistry; a sophism, quibble, or fallacious argument.

Other Word Forms

• antisophistication noun
• hypersophistication noun
• oversophistication noun
• self-sophistication noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sophistication¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Medieval Latin sophisticātiōn-, stem of sophisticātiō; equivalent to sophisticate + -ion

Example Sentences

It was the kind of cynicism that poses as sophistication—the belief that Benjamin Netanyahu was continuing the Gaza war for his own political purposes.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But he was keenly loyal to his literary home: He canceled his subscription to the Saturday Review when that publication ran an attack on the New Yorker’s “shallow sophistication.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

What's different now is the sheer sophistication of the technology, with the widespread use of mobile phones, social media, messaging apps and now AI making it easier for people to mobilise.

Read more on BBC

Orange County’s new sophistication ought to be above rivalry, but a touch of parochial defensiveness remains.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Son carries herself as she’d want her customers to — cutting-edge European looks and a natural sophistication.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• composure 
• elegance 
• finesse 
• poise 
• refinement 
• tact 
• worldliness www.thesaurus.com