sophisticate

Meanings

Noun

• A worldly-wise person.

Verb

• To make less natural or innocent.
• To practice sophistry; change the meaning of, or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive.
• To alter and make impure, as with the intention to deceive.
• To make more complex or refined.

Adjective

• Not genuine; not pure; adulterated.

Origin

• attested about 1400 in the sense "make impure by admixture", from Medieval Latin sophisticatus, past participle of sophisticare (see sophistication). From about 1600 as "corrupt, delude by sophistry"; from 1796 as "deprive of simplicity". Related: sophisticated, sophisticating. As a noun meaning "sophisticated person" from 1921.