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Simple vs Lean - What's the difference?

simple | lean |

As an adjective simple

is uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.

As a noun simple

is (medicine) a preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.

As a verb simple

is (transitive|intransitive|archaic) to gather simples, ie, medicinal herbs.

As a proper noun lean is

.

simple

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.
  • *
  • *:“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
  • *2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 167,
  • *:There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.
  • Without ornamentation; plain.
  • Free from duplicity; guileless, innocent, straightforward.
  • * (ca.1576-1634)
  • *:Full many fine men go upon my score, as simple as I stand here, and I trust them.
  • *(Lord Byron) (1788-1824)
  • *:Must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue?
  • *(Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1803-1882)
  • *:To be simple is to be great.
  • Undistinguished in social condition; of no special rank.
  • Trivial; insignificant.
  • *1485 , (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book X:
  • *:‘That was a symple cause,’ seyde Sir Trystram, ‘for to sle a good knyght for seyynge well by his maystir.’
  • Feeble-minded; foolish.
  • Structurally uncomplicated.
  • #(lb) Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.
  • #(lb) Of a group: having no normal subgroup.
  • #(lb) Not compound, but possibly lobed.
  • #(lb) Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Homogenous.
  • (lb) Mere; not other than; being only.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:A medicinewhose simple touch / Is powerful to araise King Pepin.
  • Synonyms

    * (consisting of a single part or aspect) onefold * (having few parts or features) plain * See also

    Antonyms

    * (having few parts or features) complex, compound, complicated * (uncomplicated) subtle

    Derived terms

    * fee simple * future simple * oversimple * past simple * plain and simple * present simple * pure and simple * simple beam * simple connectivity * simple contract * simple dislocation * simple equation * simple extension * simple eye * simple fraction * simple fracture * simple fruit * simple function * simple future * simple group * simple harmonic motion * simple-hearted * simple interest * simple leaf * simple linear regression * simple machine * simple mastectomy * simple microscope * simple-minded * simple past * simple pendulum * simple pistil * simple pole * simple present * simple protein * simple regression * simple sentence * Simple Simon * simple sugar * simple syrup * simple time * simple trust * simplehead * simpleness * simpless * simplex * simply * single * simplicity * simpleton

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (medicine) A preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.
  • *, II.37:
  • *:I know there are some simples , which in operation are moistening and some drying.
  • *Sir W. Temple
  • *:What virtue is in this remedy lies in the naked simple itself as it comes over from the Indies.
  • (obsolete) A term for a physician, derived from the medicinal term above.
  • (logic) A simple or atomic proposition.
  • (obsolete) Something not mixed or compounded.
  • *Shakespeare
  • *:compounded of many simples
  • (weaving) A drawloom.
  • (weaving) Part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom.
  • (Roman Catholic) A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.
  • Verb

    (simpl)
  • (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To gather simples, ie, medicinal herbs.
  • Derived terms

    * simpler * simplist * simplify

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    lean

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.

    Verb

  • To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
  • To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; with to'', ''toward , etc.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • They delight rather to lean to their old customs.
  • To rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.; with on'', ''upon'', or ''against .
  • * (1809-1892)
  • He leaned not on his fathers but himself.
  • * , chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • To hang outwards.
  • To press against.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • His fainting limbs against an oak he leant .
    Derived terms
    * lean back * leaning * lean on * lean-to

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (of a person or animal) slim; not fleshy.
  • (of meat) having little fat.
  • Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
  • a lean''' budget; a '''lean harvest
  • Of a fuel-air mixture, having more air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; more air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
  • (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
  • lean copy, matter, or type
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year=1938 , month=July , author=Blaine and Dupont Miller , title=Weather Hop , page=25 , magazine=Boy's Life , publisher=Boy Scouts of America , issn=0006-8608 citation , passage=He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose. }}
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year=2002 , month=July , author=Tom Benenson , title=Can Your Engine Run Too Lean? , volume=129 , issue=7 , page=73 , magazine=Flying , issn=0015-4806 citation , passage=Even the Pilot's Operating Handbooks (POH) for our training airplanes add to our paranoia with their insistence that we not lean the mixture until we're above 5000 feet density altitude. }}

    Etymology 3

    Icelandic (leyna)?; akin to (etyl) word for "deny". Compare .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To conceal.
  • (Ray)

    See also

    *

    References

    * *