1
a(1)
: easily accomplished or attained
a facile victory
(2)
: shallow, simplistic
I am not concerned … with offering any facile solution for so complex a problem—
T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
b
: used or comprehended with ease
c
: readily manifested and often lacking sincerity or depth
facile tears
2
archaic
: mild or pleasing in manner or disposition
Did you know?
Facile comes from the Latin facilis, meaning "easy," and facere, "to make or do." The adjective can mean "easy" or "easily done," as befits its Latin roots, but it now often adds the meaning of undue haste or shallowness, as in "facile answers to complex questions."
Examples of facile in a Sentence
But in the less palmy days of their marriage and the final years of his life, Lennon produced (with Yoko's help) shallow, facile recordings that cannibalized his early work.
—Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses, 2002
Melville shrank from atheism, and from all facile theisms.
—John Updike, Hugging the Shore, (1983) 1984
… I saw that my old enemy was dead, Amy [Lowell], noble Amy. How I despised myself then for my facile self-pity and for my failure to die—how she seemed to have worsted me once again.
—Conrad Aiken 14 May 1925,
in Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken, 1978
This problem needs more than just a facile solution.
He is a wonderfully facile writer.
Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses, 2002
Melville shrank from atheism, and from all facile theisms.
—John Updike, Hugging the Shore, (1983) 1984
… I saw that my old enemy was dead, Amy [Lowell], noble Amy. How I despised myself then for my facile self-pity and for my failure to die—how she seemed to have worsted me once again.
—Conrad Aiken 14 May 1925,
in Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken, 1978
This problem needs more than just a facile solution.
He is a wonderfully facile writer.
Recent Examples on the Web
The benefit of all of this, of course, is a shift toward recognizing, at least in the zeitgeist, the seemingly facile truth: that moms have identities and desires beyond being moms.
—Cady Lang, TIME, 24 May 2024
The commentary on social media is mostly facile, although a humiliating trick played on Nikki is devilishly funny and some of the flashback-recap sequences make zippy use of online video.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2024
So to look at anything going on during a pandemic, the shifts that have occurred, as an acceleration of existing trends is facile.
—Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2020
The facile idea was that, as Kara Swisher pointed out on her podcast, Musk was potentially the one person who could solve Twitter’s long-term profitability problem.
—Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2022
See all Example Sentences for facile 
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Cady Lang, TIME, 24 May 2024
The commentary on social media is mostly facile, although a humiliating trick played on Nikki is devilishly funny and some of the flashback-recap sequences make zippy use of online video.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2024
So to look at anything going on during a pandemic, the shifts that have occurred, as an acceleration of existing trends is facile.
—Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2020
The facile idea was that, as Kara Swisher pointed out on her podcast, Musk was potentially the one person who could solve Twitter’s long-term profitability problem.
—Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2022
See all Example Sentences for facile
Dictionary Entries Near facile
Cite this Entry
“Facile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facile. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
facile
adjective
fac·ile
ˈfas-əl 
1
a
: easily done, handled, or achieved
b
: overly simple : shallow entry 1 sense 2
c
: easily experienced or displayed and often insincere
2
: working, moving, or performing with skill and ease : fluent
a facile writer
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