sophistication
2
8.4
- noun
- /səˌfɪstəˈkeɪʃən/
:
sofistería
- The politician's speech was filled with sophistication, masking his true intentions with clever arguments.
- lack of sophistication
- increased sophistication
Examples
-
In organizing the White House, Clinton's approach is reminiscent of Carter's for its lack of insight and sophistication.
Academic text (1997) -
In fact, many scholars have resisted the interpretive challenges that the Filostrato's narrative sophistication poses.
Fiction book (1991) -
However, there are questions about the sophistication of the detection methods in these two studies.
Academic text (2005) -
The process lacks the complexity and sophistication expected at his age.
Academic text (2000) -
State formation and artistic sophistication are two sides of the same coin.
Academic text (1997) -
The students in this group seemed capable of identifying problems in the cases, but again a lack of sophistication was evident.
Academic text (1998) -
A secondary outgrowth of this deplorable situation has been the ever-increasing sophistication with which looters manipulate and beguile archaeologists and preservationists.
Academic text (1996) -
The lawyer used his sophistication in rhetoric to manipulate the jury's emotions.
-
Her sophistication in debate allowed her to easily counter the opponent's arguments.
Synonyms
7
9.8
Use of clever but false arguments to trick people
1
9.9
A clever but wrong argument used to trick people
1
6.2
A quality of being clever and secretly using tricks to get what you want
Dishonest behavior where someone pretends to have skills or knowledge they do not have
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
sophistication = sophisticate (opaque) = sophisticate + ion
Although the form is analyzable as 'sophisticate' + '-ion', the sense 'act of misleading by sophistry' diverges from the common 'refined' sense and is not predictable for learners.
Etymology
Sophistication can also connect to the old word sophist, a clever teacher who sometimes used tricks in argument. A helpful way to remember this meaning is that sophistication can mean clever but misleading reasoning.