Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To simplify to the point of causing misrepresentation, misconception, or error.
  • intransitive verb To cause distortion or error by extreme simplification of a subject.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb to simplify excessively so as to distort or misrepresent; -- of facts, assertions, or communications.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To explain or present something in a way that excludes important information for the sake of brevity, or of making the explanation or presentation easy to understand.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb simplify to an excessive degree
  • verb make too simple

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I like Cherie Priests new steampunk novel Boneshaker, which to oversimplify is about a mother fighting zombies to get her son back.

    Fighting for Spawn at SF Novelists 2009

  • The reason, to oversimplify, is that a wire can simultaneously carry signals at a variety of frequencies, from sixty cycles per second for electric power to 3 million cycles per second and up for Internet data.

    E-mail Out of Every Plug 2006

  • The reason, to oversimplify, is that a wire can simultaneously carry signals at a variety of frequencies, from sixty cycles per second for electric power to 3 million cycles per second and up for Internet data.

    E-mail Out of Every Plug 2006

  • The reason, to oversimplify, is that a wire can simultaneously carry signals at a variety of frequencies, from sixty cycles per second for electric power to 3 million cycles per second and up for Internet data.

    E-mail Out of Every Plug 2006

  • The reason, to oversimplify, is that a wire can simultaneously carry signals at a variety of frequencies, from sixty cycles per second for electric power to 3 million cycles per second and up for Internet data.

    E-mail Out of Every Plug 2006

  • I did grossly oversimplify, which is always a danger under 500 words.

    ArmsControlWonk 2009

  • Basically, the article is long on sensationalism and short on news - much like the big photo on the page, a human-interest picture from Haiti, underneath which we find a crypto-denialist story about climate change carrying the headline "Push to Oversimplify at Climate Panel". story loves that "oversimplify" word, using it in two headlines and twice in the body of the article, but in all cases the shorter and more objective "simplify" would be much better suited.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page Felix Salmon 2010

  • This unique visual acuity led indirectly (to crudely oversimplify) to the peculiar evolutionary path of primate brains.

    Cover to Cover 2010

  • Remember that, in the smallest nutshell into which we can oversimplify it, Lines 1, 2 and 5 of the limerick must each contain the meter "o-hickory-dickory-dock" and must rhyme with one another; and that Lines 3 and 4 must contain "o-dickory-dock" and rhyme with each other.

    Week 887: A new contest: We give you a line, you write the rest of the limerick The Empress 2010

  • However, Nisbet contends that when you oversimplify a policy debate as a matter of science, you create the incentive to distort the science, which is exactly what has happened over climate change.

    2009 December 14 | Serendipity 2009

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