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Specify vs Simplify - What's the difference?

specify | simplify |

In lang=en terms the difference between specify and simplify

is that specify is to bring about a specific result while simplify is to make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.

As verbs the difference between specify and simplify

is that specify is to state explicitly, or in detail, or as a condition while simplify is to make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.

specify

English

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To state explicitly, or in detail, or as a condition.
  • To include in a specification.
  • To bring about a specific result.
  • simplify

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.
  • To become simpler.
  • * 2006 , Karen Oslund, “Reading Backwards: Language Politics and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia”, in David L. Hoyt and Karen Oslund (editors), The Study of Language and the Politics of Community in Global Context , Lexington Books, ISBN 978-0-7391-0955-7, page 126:
  • Thus, throughout the nineteenth century, linguists generally held that more grammatically complex languages were older and that languages tended to simplify over time—the four grammatical cases of German as contrasted with the seven of Latin, for example.

    Derived terms

    * oversimplify * simplification * simplifier English ergative verbs