(as) simple as kiss your hand

Remarkably or especially easy. Come on, it's simple as kiss your hand—just tell the cops what you know, and they'll let you go. This casserole recipe is as simple as kiss your hand, and it's delicious, too! Grandma told me that knitting would be as simple as kiss your hand, but I'm already all tangled up in yarn!

in simple English

In clear, straightforward, and uncomplicated English terminology. Chronic atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries has stopped oxygen-rich blood from reaching the heart, leading to a myocardial infarction. In simple English, you've suffered a heart attack. I wish these software agreements would be written in simple English, rather than this legalese gobbledygook. None of these support sites are in simple English, and I can't understand all the technical jargon!

keep it plain and simple

To do, express, or create something in a straightforward, uncomplicated, or unelaborate style or manner. A: "Do you have any tips for writing the application?" B: "Just try to keep it plain and simple. You're trying to highlight why you're the best candidate, not write an essay for college." I really don't like interior design that uses such wild, clashing colors. I much prefer to keep it plain and simple. The filmmakers didn't have the budget for fancy special effects, so they had to keep it plain and simple.

make it plain and simple

To express something in a straightforward, uncomplicated, or unelaborate style or manner. A: "Do you have any tips for writing the application?" B: "Just try to make it plain and simple why you're the best candidate. You're not writing an essay for college." I can see you're not getting it, so let me make it plain and simple. You are going to fail this class if you don't get an A on your next test, understand?

plain and simple

1. Essentially or fundamentally so, without exaggeration or elaboration. If you are caught cheating on an exam or assignment, you will fail the entire class, plain and simple. No matter how much they claim it will help the average worker, this is a tax break for the wealthy, plain and simple.

2. In a straightforward, uncomplicated, or unelaborate style or manner. A: "Do you have any tips for writing the application?" B: "Just try to make it plain and simple why you're the best candidate. You're not writing an essay for college." I can see you're not getting it, so let me put it plain and simple. You are going to fail this class if you don't get an A on your next test, understand? The filmmakers didn't have the budget for fancy special effects, so they had to keep it plain and simple.

pure and simple

Essentially or fundamentally so, without exaggeration or elaboration. If you are caught cheating on an exam or assignment, you will fail the entire class, pure and simple. No matter how much they claim it will help the average worker, this is a tax break for the wealthy, pure and simple.

See also: and, pure, simple

put it plain and simple

To express something in a straightforward, uncomplicated, or unelaborate style or manner. I can see you're not getting it, so let me put it plain and simple. You are going to fail this class if you don't get an A on your next test, understand? A: "Do you have any tips for writing the application?" B: "Just try to put it plain and simple why you're the best candidate. You're not writing an essay for college."

simple English

Clear, straightforward, and uncomplicated English terminology. Chronic atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries has stopped oxygen-rich blood from reaching the heart, leading to a myocardial infarction. In simple English, you've suffered a heart attack. I wish these software agreements would be written in simple English, rather than this legalese gobbledygook.

Simple Simon

dated A foolish, gullible, or incompetent person; a dullard. Scam artists prey on Simple Simons like you—people who would give all their personal details just because someone says they work for the bank. Why on earth did they promote a Simple Simon like Charlie to upper management? He'll run this place into the ground!

have a bad case of the simples

Rur. to be stupid. That boy has a bad case of the simples. He can't understand anything. She acts smart enough on the playground, but get her in the classroom and she has a bad case of the simples.

pure and simple

and plain and simple

absolutely; without further complication or elaboration. I told you what you must do, and you must do it, pure and simple. Will you kindly explain to me what it is, pure and simple, that I am expected to do? Just tell me plain and simple, do you intend to go or don't you?

See also: and, pure, simple

pure and simple

No more and no less, plainly so, as in This so-called educational video is really a game, pure and simple. This expression is very nearly redundant, since pure and simple here mean "plain" and "unadorned." Oscar Wilde played on it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895): "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." [Second half of 1800s]

See also: and, pure, simple

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pure and simple

and nothing else.

1991 Alabama Game & Fish They are bred for waterfowling, pure and simple.

See also: and, pure, simple

ˌpure and ˈsimple

and nothing else: This man is a bully, pure and simple. ▶ ˌpurely and ˈsimply adv.: I am basing my opinion purely and simply on the facts of the case.

See also: and, pure, simple

pure and simple

mod. basically; essentially. Bart is a crook, pure and simple.

See also: and, pure, simple

pure and simple

Plainly so, without amplification or dilution. This pairing is almost but not quite redundant; it dates from the nineteenth century. Oscar Wilde played on it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895): “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

See also: and, pure, simple

simple Simon

A foolish, gullible person; a simpleton. This expression comes from the well-known nursery rhyme “Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair,” in turn a rhymed version of a tale from an eighteenth-century chapbook. By 1785 Grose’s dictionary defined the term as “a natural, a silly fellow.” James Joyce used it in Ulysses (1922): “I looked so simple in the cradle they christened me simple Simon.” However, it is probably obsolescent.