sophisticate

 

verb

Pronunciation: /səˈfɪstɪkeɪt/
[with object]
  • 1make (someone or something) more sophisticated: readers who have been sophisticated by modern literary practice
  • 2 [no object] archaic talk or reason in an impressively complex and educated manner: she’ll sophisticate in three languages
  • mislead or corrupt by sophistry: books of casuistry, which sophisticate the understanding and defile the heart

adjective

Pronunciation: /səˈfɪstɪkət/
archaic
  • sophisticated.

noun

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

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