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facile

 
Dictionary: fac·ile   (făs'əl) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Done or achieved with little effort or difficulty; easy. See synonyms at easy.
  2. Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
  3. Arrived at without due care, effort, or examination; superficial: proposed a facile solution to a complex problem.
  4. Readily manifested, together with an aura of insincerity and lack of depth: a facile slogan devised by politicians.
  5. Archaic. Pleasingly mild, as in disposition or manner.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin facilis.]

facilely fac'ile·ly adv.
facileness fac'ile·ness n.

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Wordsmith Words: facile
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(FAS-il, -yl)

adjective
Easy; simple; superficial; fluent.

Etymology
From Middle French, from Latin facilis, from facere (to do). Ultimately from Indo-European root dhe- (to set or put) which is also the source of do, deed, factory, fashion, face, rectify, defeat, sacrifice, satisfy, and many other words

Usage
"But he (Cole Porter) was always a little too facile for the critics, a little too elegant for the masses." — Stephen Whitty; Composer's Biopic Rates a Lump of Cole; Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey); Jul 2, 2004. "(Thomas) Keneally is a facile writer, a solid, nuts-and-bolts professional. His prose is always supple, and he can turn a phrase." — Patrick Kurp; Read the Book or Wait For Movie?; Houston Chronicle (Texas); Jun 18, 2004.


Thesaurus: facile
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adjective

  1. Posing no difficulty: easy, effortless, simple, smooth. Informal snap. Idioms: easy as ABC, easy as falling off a log, easy as one-two-three, easy as pie, like taking candy from a baby, nothing to it. See easy/hard.
  2. Moving or performing quickly, lightly, and easily: agile, brisk, nimble, quick, spry. See ability/inability.
  3. Characterized by ready but often insincere or superficial discourse: glib, slick, smooth-tongued. See surface/depth, words.
  4. Exhibiting or possessing skill and ease in performance: adroit, clever, deft, dexterous, handy, nimble, slick. See ability/inability.

Antonyms: facile
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adj

Definition: easy; easily mastered
Antonyms: arduous, complicated, confusing, difficult, hard, involved, laborious, profound


Word Tutor: facile
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Done in a quick smooth way.

pronunciation That problem looked like it could be solved in a facile manner, but it was really quite difficult.

Translations: Facile
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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - let, let tilgængelig, letflydende, behændig, eftergivende

Nederlands (Dutch)
makkelijk, zelfverzekerd, oppervlakkig

Français (French)
adj. - spécieux, facile, superficiel

Deutsch (German)
adj. - leicht, gewandt

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - εύκολος, ευχερής, άνετος

Italiano (Italian)
facile, frivolo

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - fácil, superficial, hábil

Русский (Russian)
поверхностный, легкий, покладистый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - fácil, sencillo, superficial, poco profundo

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - lättvindig, flyhänt, lättsam

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
温和的, 灵巧的, 容易的

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 溫和的, 靈巧的, 容易的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 쉬운, 유순한, 편안한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 容易な, すらすら動く, 軽妙な, 器用な, 安易な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) هين , رشيق , بارع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮קל, מהיר, נעים, נוח, שטחי, קליל‬


 
 
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rugged
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