facile

CEFRC2

/ˈfæs.aɪl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Too simple or easy, without serious thought or effort.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with.

Examples

  • It's not that your criticism is too controversial, but that it's facile.

  • The hunger for facile wisdom is the root of all false philosophy.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈfæs.ɫ̩]
  • /ˈfæs.əl/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Effortless, fluent (of work, abilities etc.).

  2. Easy; contemptibly easy.

  3. Lazy, simplistic, superficial (especially of explanations, discussions etc.).

More examples

In context

  • He arrived with a facile understanding of her works.

  • His facile disposition made him many friends.

  • Her writing was facile and articulate.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

His blank explanation ignored the complex details of the issue.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Borrowed from Middle French facile, from Latin facilis (“easy to do, easy, doable”), from Latin facere (“to do, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put”) Compare Spanish and Portuguese fácil (“easy”), Catalan fàcil, Romanian facil. First use appears c. 1484 in a translation by William Caxton.