facile

adjective

fac·​ile ˈfa-səl 

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

facilely

ˈfa-sə(l)-lē 

adverb

facileness

ˈfa-səl-nəs 

noun

Did you know?

Facile comes from the Latin facilis, meaning "easy," and facere, "to make or do." The adjective can mean "easy" or "easily done," as befits its Latin roots, but it now often adds the meaning of undue haste or shallowness, as in "facile answers to complex questions."

Synonyms

• superficial
• shallow

Choose the Right Synonym for 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.

an easy college course

facile often adds to easy the connotation of undue haste or shallowness.

facile answers to complex questions

simple stresses ease in understanding or dealing with because complication is absent.

a simple problem in arithmetic

light stresses freedom from what is burdensome.

a light teaching load

effortless stresses the appearance of ease and usually implies the prior attainment of artistry or expertness.

moving with effortless grace

smooth stresses the absence or removal of all difficulties, hardships, or obstacles.

a smooth ride

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 on the Web

Both prove facile stabs at deepening their male counterparts. —J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 14 Mar. 2025

The inability to perceive this limitation is amplified for LLMs as their facile use of human language suggests to humans that all other brain capabilities () exist in addition to the Communicating function, as this is the foundational cognitive basis set for all humans. —Marcus Weldon, Newsweek, 24 Feb. 2025

In a sea of facile banalities, his lyrics take us back to the golden era of Spanish language singer/songwriters, but set to contemporary arrangements that place them squarely in 2025. —Ingrid Fajardo, Billboard, 14 Feb. 2025

The pure simplicity of 2-D games like Tecmo Bowl, Pac-Man, and even the raging kitchen fires within The Sims, are relics of a more facile era in gaming. —David John Chávez, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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 -ile entry 1 — more at fact

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

Rhymes for facile

• castle
• gracile
• hassall
• hassle
• passel
• tassel
• vassal
• fluorouracil
• thiouracil
• forecastle
• uracil
• propylthiouracil

Kids Definition

facile

adjective

fac·​ile ˈfas-əl 

1

a

: easily done, handled, or achieved

b

: overly simple : shallow entry 1 sense 2

c

: easily experienced or displayed and often insincere

2

: working, moving, or performing with skill and ease : fluent

a facile writer

facilely

-ə(l)-lē 

adverb