facile

adj

Etymology: 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.

1. Easy; contemptibly easy.

   “[…] as he that is benummed with cold, sits still shaking, that might relieve himselfe with a little exercise or stirring, doe they complaine, but will not use the facile and ready meanes to doe themselves good; […]”

2. Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with.

   “His facile disposition made him many friends.”

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

   “Her writing was facile and articulate.”

   “we can learn the impression that he made upon a stranger and a foreigner at this period, thanks to the facile pen of Fannu Burney.”

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

   “He arrived with a facile understanding of her works.”

   “There is a facile view that our green commitments – to tackling climate change, avoiding air and water pollution, protecting natural habitats – are an obstacle to growth. The message of the commodity markets is surely different.”

5. Of a reaction or other process, taking place readily.

   “Decarboxylation of beta-keto acids is facile.”