Find the word that does not fit in the series: Complex, Intricate, Sophisticated, Simple, Elaborate

Correct — C.
Rule: four of the five words mean complicated, so look for the word that means the opposite.

Complex, Intricate, Sophisticated and Elaborate all describe something with many parts or much detail.
Simple means the reverse: plain, with few parts.

Simple → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Complex — Complex means made of many connected parts. It belongs with intricate and elaborate, the group that Simple stands against.
• (b)
  Intricate — Intricate means very detailed or complicated, a close synonym of complex, so it fits the group.
• (d)
  Sophisticated — Sophisticated carries its sense of highly developed and complex here, as in a sophisticated system. Read that way it sits with complex and intricate.

A word odd-one-out groups words by meaning. Find the idea most of them share, then look for the word that breaks it.

Complex, intricate, elaborate and sophisticated all point to complication. Simple is their antonym. Elaborate sits in the list but not in the options, so it cannot be chosen even though it is part of the group.

Key facts

• Complex: made of many connected parts.
• Intricate: very detailed or complicated.
• Elaborate: worked out with many careful details.
• Simple: plain and not complicated, the antonym of the other four.

Common traps

• Picking Sophisticated because its everyday sense, refined or worldly, seems different

No directly related past PYQ was found.