facile

[ fas-ilor, especially British, -ahyl ]

adjective

1. moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality:

   facile fingers; a facile mind.

   Synonyms: glib, fluent, flowing, smooth

2. easily done, performed, used, etc.:

   a facile victory; a facile method.

   Synonyms: superficial

3. easy or unconstrained, as manners or persons.

   Synonyms: urbane, suave, bland

4. affable, agreeable, or complaisant; easily influenced:

   a facile temperament; facile people.

facile

/ ˈfæsaɪl /

adjective

1. easy to perform or achieve
2. working or moving easily or smoothly
3. without depth; superficial

   a facile solution

4. archaic.
   relaxed in manner; easygoing

Derived Forms

• ˈfacileness, noun
• ˈfacilely, adverb

Other Words From

• facile·ly adverb
• facile·ness noun
• over·facile adjective
• over·facile·ly adverb
• un·facile adjective
• un·facile·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of facile¹

1475–85; < Latin facilis that can be done, easy, equivalent to fac ( ere ) to do, make + -ilis -ile

Word History and Origins

Origin of facile¹

C15: from Latin facilis easy, from facere to do

Example Sentences

If Trump’s first term is any indicator, the next four years will be an unmitigated mess of infighting, corruption, revolving door staff, facile demands and fragile egotism.

From Los Angeles Times

She makes sure we’re always right there with Rona, but it’s a facile shadowing; we never land anywhere long enough — pre- or post-rehab — to feel either layered pain or the hard tick, tick, tick of genuine progress.

From Los Angeles Times

And despite the media’s facile comparisons of the Trump and Biden economies, Trump’s tariffs and tax cuts did nothing to improve the economy and caused the national debt to soar, after the pattern of his Republican predecessors.

From Salon

It can seem a little facile, as it often does when you analyze the art in terms of the life, but it’s also fairly persuasive.

From Los Angeles Times

Not because it hasn’t sprung from a sandbox, but because it’s such a facile and specious argument: Why, Trump demands, hasn’t Harris already accomplished all that she is promising on the campaign trail?

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• effortless
• glib
• hasty