sophistication
1
8.4
- noun
- /səˌfɪstəˈkeɪʃən/
- 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
6
9.8
Use of clever but false arguments to trick people
1
6.2
A quality of being clever and secretly using tricks to get what you want
1
9.9
A clever but wrong argument used to trick people
1
9.9
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.