How to Use sophisticate in a Sentence

sophisticate

1 of 2 verb
  • As for the clothes, the look is a touch ’80s sophisticate through the Chanel lens.
    — Alison S. Cohn, Harper's BAZAAR, 10 Jan. 2022
  • The decor is sophisticated with gold and cream accents, leather bed heads and flecked carpet.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 June 2026
  • The silk weave and striped pattern are sophisticated in a bohemian kind of way.
    — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The silk weave and striped pattern are sophisticated in a bohemian kind of way.
    — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 10 Mar. 2026
  • This cut has sophisticated, sleek style.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Here are six shirts, six stories, six ways to make the everyday dad shirt sophisticated.
    — Alex Sales, Glamour, 17 Jan. 2026
  • These soft, stretchy trousers are comfy enough to wear on the plane yet sophisticated enough to wear to a business meeting or networking event.
    — Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Dawson plays the breezy sophisticate more convincingly than the lovelorn man inside.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Sep. 2022
  • In terms of hair, Turner opted to wear it down in loose waves with a middle part — simple, sweet, and sophisticated all at once.
    — Kaleigh Fasanella, Allure, 5 July 2019
  • But in fact, sophisticated, back-and-forth conversations are happening all around us.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Smithsonian, 20 June 2018
  • Her look is proof that the polarizing silhouette can be sophisticated and is also well on its way to becoming a modern classic.
    — Kaitlin Clapinski, InStyle, 26 May 2026
  • He could be sophisticated without losing emotion, and bold without losing beauty.
    — Marianne Love, Daily News, 26 Jan. 2026
  • With notes of caramel, maple sugar, and whipped coconut, Ellis Brooklyn’s latest launch proves that sweet can still be sophisticated.
    — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 12 Sep. 2025
  • This new era champions sophisticated, functional style beyond the water's edge.
    — Corein Carter, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
  • Plus, the vegan leather accents, as Oprah mentioned, really sophisticate the piece and pull its colors together.
    — Kayla Blanton, Peoplemag, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Insurers have, until recently, simply not had access to the right data, or to models sophisticated enough to gauge flood risk properly.
    — The Economist, 7 Sep. 2017
  • Nor was Ashley the only Bridgerton sophisticate gracing the Met Gala red carpet.
    — Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 3 May 2022
  • Which is to the benefit of anyone who values music at once sophisticated in content but accessible in musical gesture.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 12 July 2018
  • The president would trumpet his plan to grow military spending aboard the Navy’s sophisticated new aircraft carrier.
    — Ashley Parker, Twin Cities, 6 Mar. 2017
  • The selections that most closely matched Barnhart’s sophisticated aesthetic worked best.
    — Bill Brownlee, kansascity, 11 June 2017
  • The oversized fit and V-neck combination is laidback but still sophisticated, especially the version with the argyle print.
    — Kaitlin Clapinski, InStyle, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Neither do sophisticated, authenticity-craving Parisians who choose Arles for their southern pied-à-terre.
    — Stephen Heyman, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 May 2018
  • The tech industry has pounced on the idea that robots will soon be sophisticated enough to replace humans in a host of tasks, with more than $3 billion in venture funding going to humanoid development last year.
    — Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Timeless, sophisticated, with a rich blue-green hue, this European silver fir delivers the beauty of Europe’s mountain ranges in a box—and without the constant mess.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Nov. 2025
  • While Cooper is typically sophisticated in his anti-Trump rhetoric, Cuomo attacks the president with more zeal.
    — Brian Flood, Fox News, 14 Mar. 2018
  • The technology was sophisticated, but the experience was simply human.
    — Medhat Zaki, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The effect was less throwback nostalgia and more elevated reinterpretation, proving that the statement necklace can be sophisticated.
    — Lauren Alexis Fisher, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
  • That’s after owner and chef Laurie Williamson’s sophisticated five-course dinner, which changes weekly and is only offered Friday and Saturday.
    — Celestina Blok, star-telegram, 12 May 2017
  • The Aritzia Generation Crepette Blazer is effortlessly sophisticated, with an oversized yet slim silhouette that can be dressed up or down.
    — Genevieve Cepeda, InStyle, 4 Mar. 2026
  • The technology from [blockchain analytics] firms such as Elliptic and Chainanalysis is sophisticated as well.
    — Matthew De Silva, Quartz, 5 Dec. 2019

sophisticate

2 of 2 noun
  • Outside the cities, people feel as if they are sneered at by greedy, self-serving urban sophisticates.
    — The Economist, 4 July 2019
  • Gomez was every inch the sophisticate during her appearance, pairing a black skirt and black cardigan with bright red lips.
    — Elizabeth Loga, Glamour, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Whether your style is timeless sophisticate or the latest TikTok-core, there’s a great pair of knee-high boots for you.
    — Nicola Fumo, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Oct. 2022
  • Sydney There’s nothing like a shock election result to force media sophisticates to eat their words.
    — Tom Switzer, WSJ, 19 May 2019
  • At the time, the store represented everything to which a young sophisticate could aspire.
    — Christina Binkley, WSJ, 26 Mar. 2018
  • Or this lovely summer gazpacho because cold soup is for sophisticates like myself.
    — Hilary Cadigan, Bon Appétit, 7 Oct. 2019
  • Some sophisticates, in New York and Hollywood smart sets, took these artists’ works in stride as populist chic.
    — Steven Strogatz, The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2018
  • The vibe is decidedly ‘urban-sophisticate’ at its most polished.
    — Angelina Villa-Clarke, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
  • The government’s apologists have been deriding them as out-of-touch sophisticates.
    — The Economist, 15 June 2019
  • But early on, the transplanted Frenchman was more showman than sophisticate.
    — Sarah L. Kaufman, Washington Post, 5 May 2020
  • Amy Irving stars as Izzy, a downtown woman who’s moved uptown and fancies herself a sophisticate.
    — New York Times, 13 Feb. 2020
  • When the sophisticate’s string of pearls is mysteriously stolen en route, the mood goes from civilized sitting to human bondage in a matter of seconds.
    — Joe Hsieh, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2022
  • Heartland churchgoers, urban sophisticates, football neophytes—everyone got swept up in his will to win.
    — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 8 Feb. 2026
  • This palette is a true sophisticate, using colors once thought to be the prerogative of decorators.
    — Kelly Allen, House Beautiful, 23 July 2021
  • Neither strivers nor sophisticates, these chronically broke 20-somethings dropped out of high school the minute they were legally permitted to do so.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 9 July 2019
  • With Kreis offstage, setting this music to the entwinings of bored sophisticates doesn’t make much emotional impact.
    — Lawrence Toppman, charlotteobserver, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Put another way, come 2217, some things taken for granted now will make savages of today’s sophisticates.
    — Deroy Murdock, National Review, 30 Aug. 2017
  • The buzzy vibe at Primrose, a recent addition, skews more urban sophisticate than traditional ski town, with top-notch service to match.
    — Cindy Hirschfeld, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2023
  • On-road, the Compass is not an off-road warrior like the Wrangler, nor an urbane sophisticate like the Grand Cherokee.
    — cleveland, 2 May 2020
  • And in this town of rabid sushi sophisticates, crowning Sabuku Sushi San Diego’s best would be a foolish proposition.
    — Michele Parente, sandiegouniontribune.com, 24 Aug. 2017
  • Yeun plays Ben, the sophisticate who dates Hae-mi and accepts Jong-su as a compatriot and confident.
    — Tasha Robinson, The Verge, 4 Nov. 2018
  • Paired with leggings, platform boots, and oversized ski googles, the look was snow-bunny sophisticate — completely different from anything this diva has worn before.
    — Janelle Okwodu, Vogue, 21 Dec. 2017
  • This exuberant magnum opus made a big splash when it was published in 1996 and became required reading for young, brainy sophisticates.
    — Brandon Griggs, CNN, 10 May 2020
  • One is about well-to-do Manhattan sophisticates, the other focuses on a blue-collar family trying to make ends meet in flyover country.
    — Kristi Turnquist, OregonLive.com, 17 May 2018
  • The film starts with a dozen people waking up in what appears to be a central Arkansas clearing, deposited there by ruthless, urban sophisticates.
    — Mark Kennedy, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2020
  • Meanwhile, the investors in Shkreli’s funds were sophisticates with money to burn, Brafman suggested.
    — Stephanie Clifford, The Seattle Times, 29 June 2017
  • Urbanites defined themselves as forward-looking sophisticates who sneered at yokels in backwaters; cosmopolitanism faced off against parochialism.
    — Sarah Churchwell, The New York Review of Books, 7 Feb. 2019
  • Quiroz is the urban sophisticate, bright and articulate, with a round laughing face and connections with the best restaurants in Mexico City.
    — Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Teeming with lobbyists, professors and political sophisticates, local officials can barely keep an arms-length from those who seek to influence them.
    — Sean Rossman, USA TODAY, 15 Aug. 2017
  • Those who know Lee only as his Gi-hun character would barely recognize the dapper sophisticate sitting with excellent posture in a small greenroom.
    — Michael Ordoñastaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sophisticate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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