Etymology
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sophisticated (adj.)

c. 1600, "mixed with a foreign substance, impure; no longer simple or natural," past-participle adjective from sophisticate (v.). In reference to persons, and in a positive sense of "worldly-wise, discriminating, cultured," it is attested by 1895. Related: Sophisticatedly.

The earlier adjective in English was sophisticate, attested from c. 1400 as "adulterated, impure, spurious" and by 1590s as "no longer simple," often with implications of "altered dishonestly."

Entries linking to sophisticated

sophisticate (v.)

c. 1400, sophisticaten, transitive, "make impure by admixture, add a foreign or inferior substance to," from Medieval Latin sophisticatus, past participle of sophisticare "adulterate; cheat; quibble" (see sophistication). It is attested from c. 1600 as "obscure or corrupt with fallacies, delude by sophistry," and by 1796 as "deprive of simplicity." Related: Sophisticated; sophisticating.

As a noun, "sophisticated person," it is attested from 1921, according to OED a back-formation from the verb.

unsophisticated (adj.)

1620s, "unmixed," from un- (1) "not" + sophisticated (adj.). Meaning "ingenuous, natural, inexperienced" is recorded from 1660s.

updated on March 20, 2023

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Dictionary entries near sophisticated

sophism

sophist

sophister

sophistic

sophisticate

sophisticated

sophistication

sophistry

Sophocles

sophomore

sophomoric

© 2001-2023 Douglas Harper