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say it: SIM-puhl
simple is an adjective and noun meaning "having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved". It carries 9 recorded senses.
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved
“a simple problem”
“simple mechanisms”
“a simple design”
“a simple substance”
easy and not involved or complicated
“an elementary problem in statistics”
“elementary, my dear Watson”
“a simple game”
“found an uncomplicated solution to the problem”
exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity
“childlike trust”
“dewy-eyed innocence”
“listened in round-eyed wonder”
lacking mental capacity and subtlety
(botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions
botany
a person lacking intelligence or common sense
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for simple come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.