simplify
English
Etymology
From the French simplifier.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsɪmplɪfaj/, /ˈsɪmpləfaj/
Verb
simplify (third-person singular simple present simplifies, present participle simplifying, simple past and past participle simplified)
- (transitive) To make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.
- To become simpler.
- 2006, Karen Oslund, “Reading Backwards: Language Politics and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia”, in David L. Hoyt and Karen Oslund (editors), The Study of Language and the Politics of Community in Global Context, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 126:
- Thus, throughout the nineteenth century, linguists generally held that more grammatically complex languages were older and that languages tended to simplify over time—the four grammatical cases of German as contrasted with the seven of Latin, for example.
- 2006, Karen Oslund, “Reading Backwards: Language Politics and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia”, in David L. Hoyt and Karen Oslund (editors), The Study of Language and the Politics of Community in Global Context, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 126:
Derived terms
- oversimplify
- simplification
- simplifier
Translations
to make simpler
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to become simpler
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