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sophistication - 5 dictionary results

so⋅phis⋅ti⋅ca⋅tion

  [suh-fis-ti-key-shuhn]
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–noun
1. sophisticated character, ideas, tastes, or ways as the result of education, worldly experience, etc.: the sophistication of the wealthy.
2. change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition.
3. complexity, as in design or organization.
4. impairment or debasement, as of purity or genuineness.
5. the use of sophistry; a sophism, quibble, or fallacious argument.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < ML sophisticātiōn- (s. of sophisticātiō), equiv. to sophisticāt(us) (see sophisticate ) + -iōn- -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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so·phis·ti·cate   (sə-fĭs'tĭ-kāt')   
v.   so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates

v.   tr.
  1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.
  2. To make impure; adulterate.
  3. To make more complex or inclusive; refine.
v.   intr.
To use sophistry.
n.   (-kĭt)
A sophisticated person.

[Middle English sophisticaten, to adulterate, from Medieval Latin sophisticāre, sophisticāt-, from Latin sophisticus, sophistic, from Greek sophistikos, from sophistēs, sophist; see sophist.]
so·phis'ti·ca'tion n., so·phis'ti·ca'tor n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sophistication

So*phis`ti*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. LL. sophisticatio, F. sophistication.] The act of sophisticating; adulteration; as, the sophistication of drugs. --Boyle.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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sophistication 
c.1400, "use or employment of sophistry," from M.L. sophisticationem (nom. sophisticatio), from sophisticare "adulterate, cheat quibble," from L. sophisticus "of sophists," from Gk. sophistikos "of or pertaining to a sophist," from sophistes "a wise man, master, teacher" (see sophist). Meaning "wordly wisdom, refinement, discrimination" is attested from 1850; sophisticated (of persons) "worldly wise, discriminating, refined" is attested from 1895.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: so·phis·ti·ca·tion
Pronunciation: s&-"fis-t&-'kA-sh&n
Function: noun
: the process or result of makingimpure or weak : ADULTERATION <sophistication of a drug>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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