Simple vs Vain - What's the difference?
simple | vain | Related terms |
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.
(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.
(transitive, intransitive, archaic) To gather simples, ie, medicinal herbs.
Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
* (rfdate) Leo Rosten
Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
* Bible, (w) v. 6
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
* (rfdate) William of Occam
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
, chapter=6, title= Showy; ostentatious.
* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
Simple is a related term of vain.
As nouns the difference between simple and vain
is that simple is (medicine) a preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant while vain is .As an adjective simple
is uncomplicated; taken by itself, with nothing added.As a verb simple
is (transitive|intransitive|archaic) to gather simples, ie, medicinal herbs.simple
English
Adjective
(er)Synonyms
* (consisting of a single part or aspect) onefold * (having few parts or features) plain * See alsoAntonyms
* (having few parts or features) complex, compound, complicated * (uncomplicated) subtleDerived 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 * simpletonNoun
(en noun)Verb
(simpl)Derived terms
* simpler * simplist * simplifyStatistics
*Anagrams
* 1000 English basic words ----vain
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain ; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
- thy vain excuse
- Let no man deceive you with vain words.
- Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
- Vain is the force of man / To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
- It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.
A Cuckoo in the Nest, passage=But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.}}
- Load some vain church with old theatric state.