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   sophisticate

   verb

   • 1. make (someone or something) more sophisticated: "readers who have been sophisticated by modern literary practice"
   • 2. talk or reason in an impressively complex and educated manner: archaic "she'll sophisticate in three languages"
   • ▪ mislead or corrupt by sophistry: "books of casuistry, which sophisticate the understanding and defile the heart"

   adjective

   • 1. sophisticated. archaic

   noun

   • 1. a person with much worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture: "he is still the butt of jokes made by New York sophisticates"

   Word Origin late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘adulterated’, and as a verb in the sense ‘mix with a foreign substance’): from medieval Latin sophisticatus ‘tampered with’, past participle of the verb sophisticare, from sophisticus ‘sophistic’. The shift of sense probably occurred first in the adjective unsophisticated, from ‘uncorrupted’ via ‘innocent’ to ‘inexperienced, uncultured’. The noun dates from the early 20th century.

   Scrabble Points: 19

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