Facile
adj ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Easy; contemptibly easy. derogatory, usually
"[…] as he that is benummed with cold, sits still shaking, that might relieve himselfe with a little exercise or stirring, doe they complaine, but will not use the facile and ready meanes to doe themselves good; […]"
- 2 Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with. archaic
"His facile disposition made him many friends."
- 3 Effortless, fluent (of work, abilities etc.).
"Her writing was facile and articulate."
- 4 Lazy, simplistic, superficial (especially of explanations, discussions etc.).
"He arrived with a facile understanding of her works."
- 5 Of a reaction or other process, taking place readily.
"Decarboxylation of beta-keto acids is facile."
- 1 expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively wordnet
- 2 performing adroitly and without effort wordnet
- 3 superficially impressive, but lacking depth and attention to the true complexities of a subject wordnet
Example
More examples"The hunger for facile wisdom is the root of all false philosophy."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French facile, from Latin facilis (“easy to do, easy, doable”), from Latin facere (“to do, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put”) Compare Spanish fácil (“easy”). First use appears c. 1484 in a translation by William Caxton.
Related phrases
More for "facile"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.