Docile Meaning
/ˈdəʊ.saɪl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjReady to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.
adjYielding to control or supervision, direction, or management.
Sentence Examples
The cows looked big and docile.
The horse is very docile and is ideal for beginner riders.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The usually aggressive dog was surprisingly ____ with the veterinarian.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cows looked big and ____.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-der. Proto-Italic *dokeō Latin doceō Proto-Indo-European *-elis Proto-Italic *-elis Latin -ilis Latin docilisder. Middle French docilebor. Middle English docyle English docile From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis, from docēre (“teach”). Compare Spanish dócil ("docile").
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over and caressing her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long time; they remaining clasped in one another’s arms, in the glorious sunshine that had crept in with Florence.
He dressed himself for going out, with a docile submission to her entreaty; and walking with a feeble gait, and looking back, with a tremble, at the room in which he had been so long shut up, and where he had seen the picture in the glass, passed out with her into the hall."
— 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
"Harriet certainly was not clever, but she had a sweet, docile, grateful disposition; was totally free from conceit; and only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to."
— 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The usually aggressive dog was surprisingly ____ with the veterinarian.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cows looked big and ____.