Sophisticated Meaning
/səˈfɪstəˌkeɪtɪd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjOf a person: having obtained worldly experience, and lacking naiveté; cosmopolitan, worldly-wise.
adjOf art or other things: appealing to the tastes of an intellectual or sophisticated (sense 1) person; cerebral; also, cultured, elegant, refined.
Sentence Examples
The engineer demonstrated how to operate the sophisticated system.
The readers of that book think themselves sophisticated.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wine expert praised the ____ flavor of the aged French red wine.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new security system is very ____ and includes facial recognition as well as fingerprint scanning.
Word Origin & History
First English usage circa 1601. From Medieval Latin sophisticatus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Set against the background of the American civil war, with Keaton a cunning but unskilled driver, unaided, of the ponderous giant of a locomotive, it remains not only probably the funniest film about railways ever made, but one of the funniest silent films to retain its comic power over today's more sophisticated audiences."
— 1958 February 26, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:
"The much more sophisticated and personable chatbots of today are the “Eliza effect on steroids,” [Sherry] Turkle said."
— 2025 December 19, Kashmir Hill, quoting Sherry Turkle, “Why Do A.I. Chatbots Use ‘I’?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wine expert praised the ____ flavor of the aged French red wine.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new security system is very ____ and includes facial recognition as well as fingerprint scanning.