Word family noun simplicity simplification simpleton adjective simple simplistic verb simplify adverb simply simplistically
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsimplysim‧ply /ˈsɪmpli/ ●●● S1 W1 adverb 1 ONLYused to emphasize what you are saying This work is simply not good enough. He simply won’t accept the committee’s decision. That would be simply wonderful! It is quite simply the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.2 only SYN just Some students lose marks simply because they don’t read the question properly. It’s not simply a question of money. What we need is not simply a smaller organization, but a more efficient one.3 used to emphasize how easy it is to do something Simply fill in the coupon and take it to your local store.4 CLEAR/EASY TO UNDERSTANDif you say or explain something simply, you say it in a way that is easy for people to understand Try to express yourself more simply. To put it simply, the tax cuts mean the average person will be about 3% better off.5 POORif you live simply, you live in a plain and ordinary way, without spending much money We had to live very simply on my father’s small salary.Examples from the Corpus
simply• It's not simply a matter of hiring more people - they also need to be trained.• She writes very simply and clearly.• Rome, in short, lived on its past simply by being a capital city.• We simply don't have the resources to compete with large corporations.• Suppose that we are simply given an algorithm which generates the digits of the real and imaginary part of some complex number.• They live very simply in the country.• But the rotational periods are correspondingly long and for all states are quite simply related to the rotational constants of the molecules.• Most of them simply release their eggs and sperm and rely on the surrounding water to bring them together.• The strain on the rope was simply too much, and it broke in two.• Already, many programs are simply unavailable in the older, 16-bit versions.• Mexicali Mayor Victor Hermosillo staunchly defended his police officers, saying they simply were maintaining public order.quite simply• It could all be resolved quite simply.• It was, quite simply, a different sense of time.• These points may be illustrated quite simply for the case of constant returns to scale.• Twice before, he tells us quite simply, he had tried to become continent.• But the rotational periods are correspondingly long and for all states are quite simply related to the rotational constants of the molecules.• The country faces a pivotal presidential election in June in which the choice is quite simply to go forward or regress. 