agile
Americanadjective
-
quick and well-coordinated in movement; lithe.
an agile leap.
- Antonyms:
- awkward
-
an agile person.
-
marked by an ability to think quickly; mentally acute or aware.
She's 95 and still very agile.
-
noting or relating to a philosophy of product development and production intended to create and distribute batches of working products in a short period of time with subsequent batches planned in a cyclical schedule of improvement, production, and distribution: agile manufacturing;
agile software programming;
agile manufacturing;
agile teams.
noun
adjective
-
quick in movement; nimble
-
mentally quick or acute
Other Word Forms
- agilely adverb
- agileness noun
- agility noun
- unagile adjective
- unagilely adverb
Etymology
Origin of agile
First recorded in 1570–80; earlier agill, from Middle French agile “nimble” and Latin agilis “easily moved, moving easily,” equivalent to ag- (base of agere “to do, drive”) + -ilis -ile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The late Ali Larijani, the agile, well-traveled secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, may prove impossible to replace.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
“AI models for generating computer code have become so efficient that we have been restructuring our product development teams into smaller, more agile and productive groups,” Oracle said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026
Rebeca Grynspan is upbeat about her chances of becoming the next head of the United Nations, which she insists must become more agile in tackling the world's crises.
From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026
Moorish horse breeds were crossed with native stock to create a sturdy and agile beast for managing cattle.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026
Combine and define agile + ity.—What is the distinction between "active" and "agile"? Ans.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
