simple
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved
How often you will meet it
Rank 777 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 23,830 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.011% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved a simple problemsimple mechanisms
- easy and not involved or complicated also: elementary, uncomplicated, unproblematic an elementary problem in statisticselementary, my dear Watson
- apart from anything else; without additions or modifications also: bare, mere only the bare factsshocked by the mere idea
- exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity also: childlike, wide-eyed, round-eyed, dewy-eyed childlike trustdewy-eyed innocence
- lacking mental capacity and subtlety also: dim-witted, simple-minded
- (botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions also: unsubdivided
noun
- any herbaceous plant having medicinal properties
simple in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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The Huberts were simple in their profession of faith.
The Dream · Émile Zola · Chapter 1
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He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple credulity.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow · Washington Irving · Chapter 1
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The characters of the three boys were revealed plainly enough by their simple furnishings.
The Hill: A Romance of Friendship · Horace Annesley Vachell · Chapter 1
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They hadn't meant to take back the compliment, good simple souls, and didn't know they had done it.
Following the Equator — Part 1 · Mark Twain · Chapter 1
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She's a lady born, too, for all her simple, every-day way; and she's a sweet creature, if ever there was one.
Emily Fox-Seton · Frances Hodgson Burnett · Chapter 1