docile
Americanadjective
-
easily managed or handled; tractable.
a docile horse.
- Synonyms:
- obedient, malleable, manageable
-
readily trained or taught; teachable.
adjective
-
easy to manage, control, or discipline; submissive
-
rare ready to learn; easy to teach
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of docile
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin docilis “readily taught,” equivalent to doc(ēre) “to teach” + -ilis adjective suffix ( see -ile)
Explanation
If someone is docile, he is easily taught or handled. If you suddenly became a trouble-maker in class, your teachers would long for the days when you were sweet and docile. Docile comes from Latin root for teaching, docere, so someone docile is easy to teach. A docile student is willing to be taught. A docile animal is easy to handle. If you behave well and do what people tell you to do, you're a docile person. Docile might be a word of praise, but it can also be a criticism of someone for being overly submissive. Some synonyms are amenable and compliant.
Vocabulary lists containing docile
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Grade 10, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Docile means that they don’t usually resist when you try to milk them.
From Washington Post • Mar. 13, 2022
Soon Elisha is approached by undercover operatives from Empower Maryland — a group trying to end debt slavery — while Alex is under pressure to make Elisha behave like a Docile without Dociline.
From New York Times • May 26, 2020
That said, "Docile" is a gripping work of science fiction that punches up in the direction of the current powers that be.
From Salon • Mar. 7, 2020
Docile, the landscape might forget we’re even there; vocal, we will survive.
From The Guardian • Jun. 1, 2015
“Different men, different methods. Docile men make very poor soldiers.”
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
