simplex
Syllables: sim·plex/ˈsɪmplɛks//ˈsɪmˌplɛks/
simplex adjective: having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
Adjective
simplex (not comparable)
- Having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
- Antonyms:
- complex
- Of an eye: (supposedly) having pigment on only the posterior surface of the iris and not the anterior surface, and thus appearing blue; this was later found to be inaccurate, as eye colour is due to the amount of pigment in the anterior surface of the iris; also, of eye pigmentation: present only on the posterior surface of the iris; and of a person: having eyes with this form of pigmentation.
- Antonyms:
- duplex
- Of a circuit or device: involving signals which travel in one direction at a time; unidirectional.
- Antonyms:
- bidirectional, duplex
- Of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes.
- Synonym of heterozygous (“of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene”).
- Synonyms:
- heterozygous
- Of a word: having no (derivational) affixes; simple, monomorphemic, uncompounded.
- Antonyms:
- polymorphemic
- Of an apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property): having only one floor or storey; single-storey.
Noun
simplex (plural simplexes or (algebraic topology, geometry, linguistics) simplices or simplicia)
- A generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension; more accurately, the convex hull of n+1 affinely independent points in n-dimensional space.
- A word which is not compound and contains no derivational affixes (inflectional affixes are usually disregarded); a monomorphemic word.
- The word weak is a simplex. Its derivative weaken is not.
- In full simplex sentence: in transformational grammar: a simple sentence which is the product of a few transformations; a kernel sentence.
- The question is: is 139. [“Priexal Vanja. ‘arrived Vanya’”] a simplex or is it a cleft structure in which all 'superfluous' constituents were deleted. […] The only indication that 139. is a simplex is the sentence intonation and the absence of a break between the verb and the subject.1978, Helga Harries-Delisle, “Contrastive Emphasis and Cleft Sentences”, in Joseph H[arold] Greenberg, editor, Universals of Human Language, volume 4 (Syntax), Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University...
- An apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property) having only one floor or storey; a single-storey property.
simplex meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Arabic and Indonesian
simplex in Tamil
- பன்முகி, எளிமை, தனிமை
simplex in Bengali
- generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension, the generalization being the simplest possible convex polytope for a given dimension
- ক্রমবর্তী সিমপ্লেক্স kromborti śimoplekśo
simplex in Arabic
- generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension, the generalization being the simplest possible convex polytope for a given dimension
- مُبَسَّط mubassaṭ
simplex in Indonesian
- of a circuit or device: involving signals which travel in one direction at a time — see also unidirectional
- simplêks
More languagesFewer languages
- simplex in Persian
- سادک
- simplex in Thai
- ซิมเพล็กซ์
- simplex in Vietnamese
- đơn công
Examples of simplex in a sentence
- AEs included herpes simplex and herpes zoster infection, appendicitis, pancreatitis, and IBD.
- Typical configurations are simplexes (one plunger), triplexes (three plungers), and quintuplexes (five plungers).
- Sunburns can trigger other diseases such as pustular psoriasis, porphyria or herpes simplex, that are not helioses.
Synonyms of simplex
Antonyms
Forms of simplex
| plural | simplexes |
|---|---|
| plural | simplices |
| plural | simplicia |
Origin of simplex
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin simplex (“plain, simple; single”). The first part, sim-, comes from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥- (“one; together”). The second part, -plex, may be from *pleḱ- (“to weave”). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural forms simplices and simplicia are learned borrowings from Latin simplicēs (masculine or feminine) and simplicia (neuter), respectively plural forms of simplex. Noun sense 1 (“generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension”) was apparently coined by the Dutch mathematician Pieter Hendrik Schoute (1846–1913) as a short version of Simplicissimum in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie (in German, 1902). (In his pioneering works on algebraic topology, the French mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) had previously introduced the concept, but not the actual term simplex.)
Words formed from simplex
- lichen simplex chronicus
- nonsimplex
- simplexity
- cosimplex
- hypersimplex
- n-simplex
- simplex method
- subsimplex
Phrases with simplex
Questions about simplex
- What does simplex mean?
- Simplex means having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
- What is simplex in Tamil?
- Simplex in Tamil is பன்முகி, எளிமை, தனிமை. See Simplex meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is simplex?
- Simplex can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce simplex?
- Simplex is pronounced /ˈsɪmplɛks/ (UK).
Words near simplex in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: simplex (page history and authors); simplex (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-simplex.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-simplex.wav.
Cite this entry: “simplex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/simplex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.