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facile

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

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.

Pronunciation

Adjective

facile (comparative more facile, superlative most facile)

  1. (now usually derogatory) Easy; contemptibly easy. [from 15th c.]
    • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, page 85:
      […] 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. (now rare) Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with. [from 16th c.]
    His facile disposition made him many friends.
  3. Effortless, fluent (of work, abilities etc.). [from 17th c.]
    Her writing was facile and articulate.
    • 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 54:
      we can learn the impression that he made upon a stranger and a foreigner at this period, thanks to the facile pen of Fannu Burney.
    • 1940 July, “Railway Literature: The History of Bradshaw. By G. Royde Smith. London: Henry Blacklock & Co., Bradshaw House, Surrey Street, Strand, W.C.2; [...] 76pp. Illustrated. Price 3s. 6d. net.”, in Railway Magazine, page 432:
      The centenary of Bradshaw has proved further scope in the railway field for his facile pen to be devoted to an officially-sponsored work, and the "most famous guide in the world" is fortunate in its choice of a biographer.
    • 1974, Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul, New York: Pocket Books, page 54:
      "Discipline," Jorge Julio Saavedra was repeating, "is more necessary to me than to other more facile writers.
    • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 372:
      A facile and persuasive writer, he also turned out countless newspaper articles on Russian aims in Central Asia and how best these could be thwarted.
  4. Lazy, simplistic, superficial (especially of explanations, discussions etc.). [from 19th c.]
    He arrived with a facile understanding of her works.
    • 2012 May 3, Chris Huhne, “It's green growth or nothing”, in The Guardian:
      There is a facile view that our green commitments – to tackling climate change, avoiding air and water pollution, protecting natural habitats – are an obstacle to growth. The message of the commodity markets is surely different.
  5. (chemistry) Of a reaction or other process, taking place readily.
    Decarboxylation of beta-keto acids is facile.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

Anagrams

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /faˈt͡sile/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ile
  • Hyphenation: fa‧ci‧le

Adverb

facile

  1. easily
    Antonym: malfacile
    • 2012, Plato, translated by Donald Broadribb, La Respubliko (Traduko al Esperanto) [The Republic (Translation into Esperanto)], 2nd corrected edition (paperback), New York: Mondial, →ISBN, page 18:
      "Se mi ankoraŭ povus facile veturi al la urbo, vi ne bezonus veni ĉi tien ĉar ni venus al vi."
      "If I could still easily travel to the city, you wouldn't need to come here, because we would come to you."
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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin facilis (“easy”), from faciō (“to do, make”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

facile (plural faciles)

  1. easy, simple
    Antonym: difficile (“difficult”)
    Il n'est pas facile de vivre avec le diabète. ― It is not easy to live with diabetes.
    Il est facile à comprendre. ― He is easy to understand.
    • 2020, “Couvre-feu : le désarroi des restaurateurs français”, in France 24‎:
      "Certes, ce n'est pas facile d'avoir 20 ans en 2020", concède Frank Delvau, reprenant l'expression utilisée par Emmanuel Macron, la veille.
      "Certainly, it's not easy to be twenty years old in 2020," Frank Delvau conceded, picking up the expression used by Emmanuel Macron the day before.
  2. (derogatory, chiefly of women) easy, promiscuous (consenting readily to sex)
    une fille facile ― an easy lay, a trollop

Usage notes

The preposition de is used with an impersonal subject, and à with a non-impersonal one.

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

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Ido

Pronunciation

Adverb

facile

  1. easily

Interlingua

Adjective

facile (comparative plus facile, superlative le plus facile)

  1. easy
    Antonym: difficile

Italian

Latin

Middle French

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