simplicity

From Middle English simplicite, from Old French simplicite, from Latin simplicitās, from simplex (“simple”). See simple.

• IPA^(key): /sɪmˈplɪsɪti/

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simplicity (countable and uncountable, plural simplicities)

1. The state or quality of being simple
   1. The quality or state of being unmixed or uncompounded

      as, the simplicity of metals or of earths

   2. The quality or state of being not complex, or of consisting of few parts

      the simplicity of a machine

   3. Lack of sharpness of mind; lack of ability to think using complex ideas; stupidity
   4. Lack of artificial ornament, pretentious style, or luxury; plainness

      simplicity of dress, of style, or of language

      simplicity of diet

      simplicity of life

   5. Freedom from subtlety or abstruseness; clarity

      the simplicity of a doctrine

      the simplicity of an explanation or a demonstration

   6. Freedom from complication; efficiency.
   • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.

2. (archaic, rare) An act or instance of foolishness.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     speaking of the great simplicity we commit, in leaving yong children under the government and charge of their fathers and parents.

• simpleness

• complexity
• complication

• simple

• simplicity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• simplicity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.