oversimple

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of oversimple This oversimple model grants primacy based on authorship and chronology. Kevin Dettmar, The Atlantic, 1 July 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for oversimple
Adjective
  • Some moved into the building’s basement, which a group of elderly Catholic nuns had occupied until the pandemic forced them to make a hasty exit, leaving behind crucifixes and religious robes.
    Anna Cooban, CNN, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Yet these traits, allied with superb technical ability, are what force defenders into making late and hasty decisions.
    The Athletic UK Staff, The Athletic, 24 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Editors’ Picks With his signature sketchy, scribbly lines, Mr. Feiffer sought to bring to a six- or nine-panel format a level of visual simplicity and intellectual sophistication akin to what William Steig and Saul Steinberg had done with their cartoons in The New Yorker.
    Andy Webster, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • The women try sketchy cash-advance loans and then giving blood, which turns into a messy set piece, executed with as much in-your-face fluid as gross-out classics like There’s Something About Mary or Monty Python’s Mr. Creosote sketch.
    Fred Topel, Deadline, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Since 2001, the net effect of the state-building mission in Afghanistan has been the emergence of a strong Afghan army and a weak Afghan state, creating an imbalance that should worry anyone with a cursory knowledge of history or political theory.
    Paul D. Miller, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2014
  • Taylor Swift's generosity also deserves admiration Swift’s altruism is frequently tagged as a reason for respect and admiration, even from those with a cursory interest in her.
    Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Even seemingly superficial exchanges have deeper meaning. Need a break?
    USA TODAY, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025
  • What’s emanating out of her is this quiet, intense truth, coupled with this incredible, superficial vulnerability.
    William Earl, Variety, 31 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Most countries agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and ideally keep warming below 1.5C. That goal slips further from possibility with every passing year of continuing fossil fuel emissions, says Burgess.
    Alejandra Borunda, NPR, 12 Feb. 2025
  • Havertz continues his movement… … and presses Kinsky while blocking the passing lane back to Dragusin.
    Ahmed Walid, The Athletic, 16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The benefit of all of this, of course, is a shift toward recognizing, at least in the zeitgeist, the seemingly facile truth: that moms have identities and desires beyond being moms.
    Cady Lang, TIME, 24 May 2024
  • The commentary on social media is mostly facile, although a humiliating trick played on Nikki is devilishly funny and some of the flashback-recap sequences make zippy use of online video.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2024
Adjective
  • Narrative has always felt very natural to me, probably because I was raised in a household of storytellers, and because formal linearity affords me a sense of aesthetic control over my very haphazard, exilic life.
    Emma Specter, Vogue, 16 Jan. 2025
  • But most of those efforts were haphazard, devolved into infighting among Chicanosauruses and didn’t develop into a full-fledged movement.
    Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Experts say the four recent accidents should not be viewed as a systemic, nationwide problem, but rather as four random events that happened to cluster together in time.
    Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 11 Feb. 2025
  • If something feels off, like a job that sounds too good to be true, a random Teams message with a sketchy link or an interview that is just a chat, trust your instincts.
    Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 10 Feb. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near oversimple

Cite this Entry

“Oversimple.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oversimple. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!