WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
so•phis•ti•ca•tion
(sə fis′ti kā′shən),USA pronunciation n.
- sophisticated character, ideas, tastes, or ways as the result of education, worldly experience, etc.:the sophistication of the wealthy.
- change from the natural character or simplicity, or the resulting condition.
- complexity, as in design or organization.
- impairment or debasement, as of purity or genuineness.
- the use of sophistry;
a sophism, quibble, or fallacious argument.
- Medieval Latin sophisticātiōn- (stem of sophisticātiō), equivalent. to sophisticāt(us) (see sophisticate) + -iōn- -ion
- Middle English 1350–1400
'sophistication' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
affected
- bombastic
- cool
- couth
- cultivation
- earthbound
- eyetooth
- glitz
- glossy
- metropolitan
- provincial
- provincialism
- self-sophistication
- slick
- suave
- uncivilized
- untutored
- unworldly
- urbane