[syn: chasteness, restraint, simplicity, simpleness]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Simplicity \Sim*plic"i*ty\, n. [F. simplicit['e], L.
simplicitas. See Simple.]
1. The quality or state of being simple, unmixed, or
uncompounded; as, the simplicity of metals or of earths.
[1913 Webster]
2. The quality or state of being not complex, or of
consisting of few parts; as, the simplicity of a machine.
[1913 Webster]
3. Artlessness of mind; freedom from cunning or duplicity;
lack of acuteness and sagacity.
[1913 Webster]
Marquis Dorset, a man, for his harmless simplicity
neither misliked nor much regarded. --Hayward.
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In wit a man; simplicity a child. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
4. Freedom from artificial ornament, pretentious style, or
luxury; plainness; as, simplicity of dress, of style, or
of language; simplicity of diet; simplicity of life.
[1913 Webster]
5. Freedom from subtlety or abstruseness; clearness; as, the
simplicity of a doctrine; the simplicity of an explanation
or a demonstration.
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6. Weakness of intellect; silliness; folly.
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How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
and the scorners delight in their scorning? --Prov.
i. 22.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
simplicity
n 1: the quality of being simple or uncompounded; "the
simplicity of a crystal" [syn: simplicity, simpleness]
[ant: complexity, complexness]
2: a lack of penetration or subtlety; "they took advantage of
her simplicity" [syn: simplicity, simpleness, simple
mindedness]
3: absence of affectation or pretense [syn: simplicity,
simmpleness]
4: freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort; "he rose
through the ranks with apparent ease"; "they put it into
containers for ease of transportation"; "the very easiness of
the deed held her back" [syn: ease, easiness,
simplicity, simpleness] [ant: difficultness,
difficulty]
5: lack of ornamentation; "the room was simply decorated with
great restraint" [syn: chasteness, restraint,
simplicity, simpleness]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
317 Moby Thesaurus words for "simplicity":
Attic simplicity, Atticism, Bohemianism, abatement, abridgment,
affability, agnosticism, agrarianism, alleviation, amentia,
appropriateness, arrested development, artlessness, asceticism,
attenuation, austereness, austerity, backwardness, baldness,
bareness, blankmindedness, blithering idiocy, bluffness, bluntness,
boorishness, brainlessness, bucolicism, callowness, candor,
casualness, chasteness, chastity, childlikeness, churlishness,
clarity, classical purity, classicalism, classicism, cleanness,
clear coast, clear road, clear-cutness, clearness, cloddishness,
coherence, combination, comeliness, common speech, common touch,
commonness, commonplaceness, comprehensibility, connectedness,
consistency, contraction, cordiality, correctness, cretinism,
crystallinity, cullibility, dampening, damping, deceivability,
decipherability, decrease, decrement, decrescence, deduction,
definition, deflation, depreciation, depression, dignity,
diminishment, diminution, directness, discrimination, distinction,
distinctness, dull-wittedness, dullness, dupability, dying,
dying off, ease, easiness, easy going, easygoingness,
effortlessness, elegance, elegancy, empty-headedness, explicitness,
extenuation, facileness, facility, fade-out, familiarity,
felicitousness, felicity, finish, fittingness, flow,
flowing periods, fluency, folksiness, forthrightness, frankness,
freedom, fusion, good taste, grace, gracefulness, gracility,
graciousness, greenhornism, greenness, guilelessness, gullibility,
half-wittedness, hiatus of learning, highroad, hoaxability,
homeliness, homespun, homeyness, household words, identity, idiocy,
idiotism, ignorance, ignorantism, ignorantness, imbecility,
inanity, individuality, indivisibility, inelegance, inexperience,
infantilism, informality, informalness, ingenuousness, innocence,
insanity, intactness, integrality, integration, integrity,
intelligibility, inurbanity, inviolability, irreducibility,
irregularity, know-nothingism, knowledge-gap, lack of hindrance,
lack of information, languishment, leanness, lessening, letup,
limpidity, looseness, lowering, lucidity, matter-of-factness,
mental defectiveness, mental deficiency, mental handicap,
mental retardation, miniaturization, mitigation, modesty,
mongolianism, mongolism, mongoloid idiocy, moronism, moronity,
naiveness, naivete, naivety, naturalness, neatness, nescience,
oafishness, obscurantism, obtuseness, offhandedness, oneness,
openheartedness, openness, ordinariness, organic unity,
outspokenness, particularity, pastorality, pellucidity,
perspicuity, persuadability, plain English, plain sailing,
plain speaking, plain speech, plain style, plain words, plainness,
plane sailing, polish, profound idiocy, propriety, prosaicness,
prosiness, provincialism, provinciality, purity, quietness,
rawness, reduction, refinement, relaxation, relaxedness,
restrainedness, restraint, retardation, retardment, royal road,
ruralism, rustic style, rusticity, sagging, scaling down,
seduceability, seemliness, selfsameness, severity,
simple-wittedness, simpleheartedness, simplemindedness, simpleness,
sincerity, single-heartedness, single-mindedness, singleness,
singleness of heart, singularity, smooth road, smooth sailing,
smoothness, soberness, sociability, softness, solidarity,
solidification, solidity, spareness, starkness, straight sailing,
straightforwardness, structure, stupidity, subduedness,
subnormality, subtraction, tabula rasa, taste, tastefulness,
terseness, transparency, transpicuity, trustfulness,
unacquaintance, unadorned style, unadornedness, unaffectedness,
unambiguousness, unceremoniousness, uncomplexity,
uncomplicatedness, unconstrainedness, unconstraint,
unconventionality, uncultivation, understandability,
understatement, undividedness, unequivocalness, unfamiliarity,
unguardedness, unification, uniformity, unimaginativeness,
unintelligence, uniqueness, unity, univocity, unknowing,
unknowingness, unmistakableness, unobtrusiveness, unpoeticalness,
unpretentiousness, unrefinement, unripeness, unsophisticatedness,
unsophistication, unspoiledness, unsuspiciousness, unwariness,
vacuity, vacuousness, vernacular, weakening, weakness, wholeness,
witlessness, yokelism