facile
[fas-il or, esp. British, -ahyl]
- moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality: facile fingers; a facile mind.
- easily done, performed, used, etc.: a facile victory; a facile method.
- easy or unconstrained, as manners or persons.
- affable, agreeable, or complaisant; easily influenced: a facile temperament; facile people.
Show More
Origin of facile
Synonyms
See more synonyms for facile on Thesaurus.com1. smooth, flowing, fluent; glib. 2. superficial. 3. bland, suave; urbane.
facile princeps
[fah-ki-le pring-keps; English fas-uh-lee prin-seps]
- easily the first or best.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for facile
Contemporary Examples
If most of the McCarthy comparisons have been favorable, all of them have been facile.
Compliments Are Nice, but Enough With the Cormac McCarthy ComparisonsWilliam Giraldi
October 21, 2014
Real-world profilers have to be careful, and are, not to indulge in facile ethnic, racial or religious “profiling.”
Then I picked up a book that shredded my facile preconceptions—Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young.
But we should beware of the facile tradition of criticizing colleges, professors, and the young (or just mocking them).
So subsequent headlines made a facile connection with media violence.
Historical Examples
This was his special gift and as usual in such cases he was not a facile writer.
Cleveland Past and PresentMaurice Joblin
I cannot brush aside the problem by a facile reference to reincarnation.
Mountain MeditationsL. Lind-af-Hageby
Consequently the poisoners of the wells of truth had a facile task.
England and GermanyEmile Joseph Dillon
A Latin tag came into my head about the facile descent into the abyss.
The Arrow of GoldJoseph Conrad
Mrs. Austen, in spite of her facile digestion, gagged at it.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
facile
- easy to perform or achieve
- working or moving easily or smoothly
- without depth; superficiala facile solution
- archaic relaxed in manner; easygoing
Show More
Word Origin
C15: from Latin facilis easy, from facere to do
facile princeps
- an obvious leader
Show More
Word Origin
literally: easily first
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for facile
adj.
late 15c., from Middle French facile "easy," from Latin facilis "easy to do" and, of persons, "pliant, courteous," from facere "to do" (see factitious).
Show More
facile princeps
Latin, literally "easily first." An acknowledged leader or chief.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper