facile

adjective fac·ile \ ˈfa-səl \

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: facile in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of facile

1 a (1) : easily accomplished or attained

a facile victory

(2) : shallow, simplistic

I am not concerned … with offering any facile solution for so complex a problem
—T. S. Eliot

b : used or comprehended with ease

c : readily manifested and often lacking sincerity or depth

facile tears

2 archaic : mild or pleasing in manner or disposition

3 a : ready, fluent

facile prose

b : poised, assured

a facile lecturer

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facilely

play \ˈfa-sə(l)-lē\ adverb

—

facileness

play \ˈfa-səl-nəs\ noun

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Examples of facile in a Sentence

But in the less palmy days of their marriage and the final years of his life, Lennon produced (with Yoko's help) shallow, facile recordings that cannibalized his early work. —Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses, 2002
Melville shrank from atheism, and from all facile theisms. —John Updike, Hugging the Shore, (1983) 1984
… I saw that my old enemy was dead, Amy [Lowell], noble Amy. How I despised myself then for my facile self-pity and for my failure to die—how she seemed to have worsted me once again. —Conrad Aiken 14 May 1925, in Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken, 1978
This problem needs more than just a facile solution.
He is a wonderfully facile writer.

Recent Examples of facile from the Web

But Holmes was no slouch: a facile mythmaker who brooked no dissent and presided over the workplace from hell.

— stephen phillips, SFChronicle.com, "New tech books: ‘Bad Blood,’ ‘Live Work Work Work Die,’ ‘The Efficiency Paradox’," 22 June 2018
Rather than involving itself with facile life-determines-art equations, or condescending to its viewers in the manner of an overeager biopic, this piece trusts its own material and approaches it with admirable restraint.

— jeremy eichler, BostonGlobe.com, "Kafka encaged, writing to his father," 18 June 2018
He was matched beautifully by Griffey’s big, colorful tenor sound and the facile work and superb blend of Stober’s soprano and O’Connor’s mezzo-soprano.

— elaine schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Milwaukee Symphony unleashes joyous roar of Beethoven's Ninth," 16 June 2018
As Schur reasoned, an all-knowing not-robot would have to be facile with language—and know how to calmly navigate questions from irate humans.

— laura bradley, HWD, "How The Good Place Built Janet, TV’s Most Scene-Stealing Not-a-Robot," 4 June 2018
Its philosophizing can seem at times overly facile, or overwrought.

— stephen phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, "New tech books: ‘Conspiracy,’ ‘Broad Band,’ ‘The Truth Machine’," 1 June 2018
The social commentary comes in the form of facile, between-song patter from members of the hard-working ensemble.

— andrea simakis, cleveland.com, "'The Royale,' inspired by boxer Jack Johnson, brings fight for freedom to stage (preview)," 13 May 2018
On the page, Wamariya and the journalist Elizabeth Weil set out to sabotage facile uplift.

— ann hulbert, The Atlantic, "The Girl Who Smiled Beads Defies Easy Uplift," 24 Apr. 2018
However, such facile comparisons fail to account for the insidious nature of fitness, the difficulty in managing it, and the long-term problems both on and off the bike that are commonly associated with it.

— eben weiss, Outside Online, "The Many Pitfalls of Cycling Fitness," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'facile.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Would you have guessed that "facile" and "difficult" are related? They are! "Facile" comes to us through Middle French, from the Latin word facilis, meaning "easy, and ultimately from facere, meaning "to make or do." "Difficult" traces to "facilis" as well, but its history also involves the negative prefix dis-, meaning "not." "Facile" can mean "easy" or "easily done," as befits its Latin roots, but it now often adds the connotation of undue haste or shallowness, as in "facile answers to complex questions."

Origin and Etymology of facile

borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, borrowed from Latin facilis "easy, accommodating, nimble," from fac-, stem of facere "to make, bring about, perform, do" + -ilis ¹-ile — more at fact

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

See Words from the same year

facile Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of facile

easy, facile, simple, light, effortless, smooth mean not demanding effort or involving difficulty. easy is applicable either to persons or things imposing tasks or to activity required by such tasks.