English Dictionary: facilely | by the DICT Development Group |
1 result for facilely | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facile \Fac"ile\a. [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. 5. Ready; quick; expert; as, he is facile in expedients; he wields a facile pen. -- {Fac"ile-ly}, adv. -- {Fac"ile*ness}, n. |