docile
Americanadjective
-
easily managed or handled; tractable.
a docile horse.
- Synonyms:
- obedient, malleable, manageable
-
readily trained or taught; teachable.
adjective
-
easy to manage, control, or discipline; submissive
-
rare ready to learn; easy to teach
Other Word Forms
- docilely adverb
- docility noun
Etymology
Origin of docile
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin docilis “readily taught,” equivalent to doc(ēre) “to teach” + -ilis adjective suffix ( see -ile)
Explanation
If someone is docile, he is easily taught or handled. If you suddenly became a trouble-maker in class, your teachers would long for the days when you were sweet and docile. Docile comes from Latin root for teaching, docere, so someone docile is easy to teach. A docile student is willing to be taught. A docile animal is easy to handle. If you behave well and do what people tell you to do, you're a docile person. Docile might be a word of praise, but it can also be a criticism of someone for being overly submissive. Some synonyms are amenable and compliant.
Vocabulary lists containing docile
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 10, List 1
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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.
This time they touched down on the back of a thumping 3-0 one-day defeat in New Zealand and criticism over scheduling -- just a single three-day red-ball warm-up on a docile pitch.
From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025
After their snake handler’s docile specimen has an onset mishap, the real thing slithers into view.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025
Rules are spelled out at the top that make clear that this isn’t one of those docile theatergoing experiences, in which the audience is expected to keep mum as the actors do all the work.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2025
“And boy, if my memory serves, those droids were there just to serve humanity; so docile, nothing frightening about them.”
From Salon • Sep. 8, 2025
The docile, obedient student came home a shrill and precocious son who insisted on correcting and teaching his parents with the remark: ‘My teacher told us....’
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
