unsophisticated

[uhn-suh-fis-ti-key-tid]

adjective

1. not sophisticated; sophisticated; simple; artless.

   Synonyms: inexperienced, naive, ingenuous

2. without complexity or refinements.

   a relatively unsophisticated mechanism.

3. unadulterated; pure; genuine.

unsophisticated

/ ˌʌnsəˈfɪstɪˌkeɪtɪd /

adjective

1. lacking experience or worldly wisdom

2. marked by a lack of refinement or complexity

   an unsophisticated machine

3. unadulterated or genuine

Other Word Forms

• unsophisticatedness noun
• unsophisticatedly adverb
• unsophistication noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unsophisticated¹

First recorded in 1620–30; un- ¹ + sophisticated

Example Sentences

“The market for these stocks is unsophisticated retail investors. There are no institutions buying these things,” Ritter said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Appalachia today includes pockets of extreme poverty and its inhabitants are often offensively depicted as "hillbillies" - simple, unsophisticated and poor.

Read more on BBC

We were unsophisticated regarding the business end of it, and we just loved creating music.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When Mark Delgado made his MLS debut, he was just 17 and even he acknowledges his approach to soccer was unsophisticated.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

This is because the American people are politically unsophisticated and are easily manipulated to believe things that are not true.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• guileless 
• inexperienced 
• naive 
• straightforward 
• uninvolved