pure and simple

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

They lost because of their clueless campaign, pure and simple.

From Salon

Another, from early 2022, called the group “psychopaths, pure and simple”.

From BBC

Unlike in virtually every other major sporting event, the Olympics are all about patriotism, pure and simple and chilling.

From Los Angeles Times

In doing so, he ran afoul of election rules, prosecutors said, which amounted to “election fraud, pure and simple.”

From BBC

“The whole bit about blood of the people: That is Nazi language pure and simple,” said Weber, a professor of history and international affairs at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• authentic
• bright
• classic
• natural
• neat
• perfect
• plain
• real
• simple
• transparent
• true
• unadulterated