Literary notes about sophisticate (AI summary)
In literary usage the term “sophisticate” is characterized by its polysemous qualities, functioning both as a process of refinement and as a means of corrupting or adulterating something pure. Writers often employ it to depict the gradual civilizing of raw elements, as when transforming unrefined ideas or materials into a polished, genteel form [1, 2]. Simultaneously, it is used critically to expose how individuals may manipulate their own consciences or the truth, subtly twisting or even deluding their internal sense of right and wrong [3, 4]. At times the word takes on a slightly ironic edge to underscore the contrast between inherent natural simplicity and the overly contrived efforts to enhance it, thereby inviting readers to question the true nature of sophistication [5, 6].
- Ours is continually the task to civilize, to sophisticate, to refine this raw material.
— from Craftsmanship in Teaching by William C. (William Chandler) Bagley - It is not easy to sophisticate the word horse, it is only too easy to sophisticate the word justice.
— from Rousseau and Romanticism by Irving Babbitt - A man may sophisticate his conscience, or bribe his conscience, or throttle his conscience, or sear his conscience.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VII by Alexander Maclaren - He no longer attempted to corrupt her principles, or sophisticate her understanding, or mystify her views of religion.
— from Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 3 (of 4) by Charles Robert Maturin - Even the muses in this degenerate age have learned to sophisticate.
— from James Russell Lowell, A Biography; vol 2/2 by Horace Elisha Scudder - Yes, it shone like a beacon-light calling the weary and sophisticate town-dwellers back to the peace and simplicity of country life.
— from Under the Skylights by Henry Blake Fuller
