Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Facile

Fac′ile

Adj.
[L.
facilis
, prop., capable of being done or made, hence, facile, easy, fr.
facere
to make, do: cf. F.
facile
. Srr
Fact
, and cf.
Faculty
.]
1.
Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor.
Order . . . will render the work
facile
and delightful.
Evelyn.
2.
Easy to be surmounted or removed; easily conquerable; readily mastered.
The
facile
gates of hell too slightly barred.
Milton.
3.
Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere, or distant; affable; complaisant.
I meant she should be courteous,
facile
, sweet.
B. Jonson.
4.
Easily persuaded to good or bad; yielding; ductile to a fault; pliant; flexible.
Since Adam, and his
facile
consort Eve,
Lost Paradise, deceived by me.
Milton.
This is treating Burns like a child, a person of so
facile
a disposition as not to be trusted without a keeper on the king’s highway.
Prof. Wilson.
–
Fac′ile-ly
,
adv.
–
Fac′ile-ness
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Facile

FAC'ILE

,
Adj.
[L. facilis, from facio, to make.]
1.
Properly, easy to be done or performed; easy; not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor.
Order - will render the work facile and delightful.
2.
Easy to be surmounted or removed; easily conquerable.
The facile gates of hell too slightly barred.
3.
Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere or distant.
I mean she should be courteous, facile, sweet.
4.
Pliant; flexible; easily persuaded to good or bad; yielding; ductile to a fault.
Since Adam, and his facile consort Eve,
Lost Paradise, deceived by me.