simplify

UK/ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/US/ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/

verbB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,688 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: simplified, simplifying, simplifies

To simplify is to make something easier to understand or do. Simplify the process, simplify the language, oversimplify.

It means removing what is not needed rather than leaving things out that are, which is the whole difference between simplifying and oversimplifying. In mathematics, to simplify an expression is to reduce it to its plainest equivalent form. Note simplification; and that things should be made as simple as possible but no simpler, which is attributed to Einstein and probably paraphrased.

Definitions of simplify

1verbsimplifyTo make something easier to understand or do.B1+
“The council has simplified the form, so it now takes five minutes to fill in.”

simplify is a making simpler.

Where it comes from

French simplifier is simple plus -ify, from Latin simplex, single-fold — sim plus plicare, to fold. Complex and duplicate come from the same folding.

Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeh₁-
French
simplifier
English, today
simplify

From the French simplifier, equivalent to simple + -ify.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

Practise this word

simplify in the wild

The Active Template Library (ATL) is a set of template-based C++ classes developed by Microsoft, intended to simplify the programming of Component Object Model (COM) objects.
Active Template Library
The sources are called point sources because in mathematical modeling, they can be approximated as a mathematical point to simplify analysis.
Point source pollution
To simplify handling and integration onto a printed circuit board, most dies are packaged in various forms.
Die (integrated circuit)
The revenue blocks exist to simplify local administration, and each consists of a small number of revenue villages, governed by a revenue inspector.
Revenue block
In 1978, the Government of Tamil Nadu reformed certain syllables of the modern Tamil script with view to simplify the script.
Simplified Tamil script

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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