simple

Definition

Uncomplicated; lacking complexity; taken by itself, with nothing added.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English symple, simple, from Old French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“I fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc. Partially displaced native English onefold.

Example Sentences

• "We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?"
• "Primitive people, colossally ignorant of the cause of disease and of curative processes, attributed to supernatural agencies any causes and effects for which their simple minds could give no natural explanations."
• "The simplest soliton is the domain wall with co-dimension one, and the next simplest is the vortex with co-dimension two, whereas the co-dimension three (four) soliton is called monopole (instanton)."