Definition of "simplistic"

At one time, I was extremely skeptical of such simplistic medicine until observing a reflexologist at work and finding that many of the patients showed steady improvement in cases where official medical practitioners had recommended surgery or prescribed the usual quantum of pills. Along with the foot massage, the reflexologist recommended herbal teas to her clients.

2012, Wolf D. Storl, The Herbal Lore of Wise Women and Wortcunners, page 97

This simplistic method of using herbs isolates the disease from the person and the chemical aspects of an herb from its overall individual therapeutic effects.

2013, Lesley Tierra, Healing with the Herbs of Life

It might also be worth taking the simplistic claims of some of the herbal health books with just a bit more than a pinch of salt: if you do decide to try feverfew tea, or a liver flush mixture, do it for yourself, not for someone trying to sell a magazine or book.

2013, Andrew Vickers, Complementary medicine and disability, page 220

(Mao's) reliance on simplistic Soviet interpretations was reflected in his dismissal of Hitler as "a mere will-less puppet of the reactionary capitalists."

1960, Allen S. Whiting, China Crosses the Yalu: the Decision to Enter the Korean War

The cliché is not untrue, but, like all generalisations, it distorts reality so that overly simplistic judgments have to be tempered by a few qualifications.

1967, Jacques Lambert, Latin America: Social Structure and Political Institutions