Word.ws English Dictionary

simpler

/ˈsɪm.pəl.ə/US/ˈsɪm.pəl.ɚ/

simpler is the comparative form of simple.

Meaning of simple

Adjective

simple (comparative simpler or more simple, superlative simplest or most simple)

  1. Uncomplicated; lacking complexity; taken by itself, with nothing added.
    • We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
    Antonyms:
    subtle
  2. Easy; not difficult.
    • There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 167
  3. Without ornamentation; plain.
  4. Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward.
    • Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them.1605, Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], The Dutch Courtezan. […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for Iohn Hodgets, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
  5. Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
    • Garak: Who would want to kill me, a simple tailor? / Odo: A simple tailor? A simple tailor who used to be an agent of the Obsidian Order!1995 April 24, Improbable Cause (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), season 3, number 20 (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC
  6. (archaic) Trivial; insignificant.
    • ‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum LV”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book X (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich]...

See all 28 meanings of simple

Noun

simpler (plural simplers)

  1. (archaic) One who grows or gathers simples (medicinal herbs).
    • One of the great pleasures in botany is, to produce a rather uncommon plant to those who know it to be curious; but the English botanist will not have much satisfaction in shewing it to a simpler, who is not acquainted with it under the name given by Gerard or Ray.1781, Daines Barrington, Miscellanies, Essay VII, On the Linnæan System, page 273
    • … may with no great impropriety be termed going a simpling; but with this special difference, that your field simpler never picks up a nettle for a marsh-mallow; a mistake which your tour simpler is very liable to.1833, William Hogarth, Anecdotes of William Hogarth: written by himself, page 48
    Synonyms:
    simplist

Proper noun capitalized: Simpler

Simpler (plural Simplers)

  1. A surname from German.

Synonyms of simpler

Forms of simpler

Noun
pluralsimplers
Proper noun
pluralSimplers

Origin of simpler

Probably an altered form of German Simperl or Semperl.

Phrases with simpler

Questions about simpler

What does simpler mean?
Simpler means one who grows or gathers simples (medicinal herbs).
What is simpler the comparative form of?
Simpler is the comparative form of simple.
What part of speech is simpler?
Simpler can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce simpler?
Simpler is pronounced /ˈsɪm.pəl.ə/ (UK).
What is the plural of simpler?
The plural of simpler is simplers.

Words near simpler in the dictionary

  1. simpleminded
  2. simplemindedly
  3. simplemindedness
  4. simpleness
  5. simplenesses
  6. simpler
  7. simpler's joy
  8. simplers
  9. simples
  10. simpless
  11. simplest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: simpler (page history and authors); Simpler (page history and authors); simple (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “simpler.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/simpler. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.