unsophisticated
Americanadjective
-
not sophisticated; simple; artless.
- Synonyms:
- inexperienced, naive, ingenuous
-
without complexity or refinements.
a relatively unsophisticated mechanism.
-
unadulterated; pure; genuine.
adjective
-
lacking experience or worldly wisdom
-
marked by a lack of refinement or complexity
an unsophisticated machine
-
unadulterated or genuine
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unsophisticated
First recorded in 1620–30; un- 1 + sophisticated
Vocabulary lists containing unsophisticated
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.
This isn’t really about sophisticated firms being punished by unsophisticated ones, although there’s some of that.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026
Everything fell: oil prices, the dollar, even gold, because investors were shocked by how unsophisticated and draconian the policy was.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
Colonial-era urban elites in Calcutta, influenced by European tastes, often dismissed jatra as rustic or unsophisticated.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
“The market for these stocks is unsophisticated retail investors. There are no institutions buying these things,” Ritter said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025
The police were unsophisticated in the Transkei, and from the moment I left the boardinghouse, they followed me everywhere I went.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
