different between facile vs free

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French facile, from Latin facilis (“easy to do, easy, doable”), from faci? (“I do, make”). Compare Spanish fácil ("easy").

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fa.s??l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?fæ.s?l/

Adjective

facile (comparative more facile, superlative most facile)

1. Easy, now especially in a disparaging sense; contemptibly easy. [from 15th c.]
   • , vol.I, New York, 2001, p.243:

     as he that is benumbed with cold sits shaking, that might relieve himself with a little exercise or stirring, do they complain, but will not use the facile and ready means to do themselves good […].

2. (now rare) Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with. [from 16th c.]

   His facile disposition made him many friends.

3. Effortless, fluent (of work, abilities etc.). [from 17th c.]
   • 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 54:

     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.

   • 1974, Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul, Pocket Books, New York, p.54:

     "Discipline," Jorge Julio Saavedra was repeating, "is more necessary to me than to other more facile writers.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 372:

     A facile and persuasive writer, he also turned out countless newspaper articles on Russian aims in Central Asia and how best these could be thwarted.

4. Lazy, simplistic (especially of explanations, discussions etc.). [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, Chris Huhne, The Guardian, 3 May 2012:

     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. (chemistry) Of a reaction or other process, taking place readily.

   Decarboxylation of beta-keto acids is facile...

Synonyms

• (skillful): See also Thesaurus:skillful

Related terms

• facilitation
• facilitative
• facilitate
• facilitator
• facilitatory
• facility

Translations

• Kyrgyz: ????? (ky) (ceñil), ??? ????? (ky) (til alg?ç), ?????? (ky) (köngüç), ????? (ky) (elpek)

Further reading

• facile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• facile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• facile at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fecial

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa?tsi.le/

Adverb

facile

1. easily

Antonyms

• malfacile (“with difficulty”)

Related terms

• facila (“easy”)
• facili (“to be easy”)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin facilis (“easy”), from faci? (“I do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.sil/
• Homophone: faciles
• Hyphenation: fa?cile

Adjective

facile (plural faciles)

1. easy, simple

   Antonym: difficile (“difficult”)

2. (derogatory, chiefly of women) easy, promiscuous (consenting readily to sex)

Usage notes

The preposition de is used with an impersonal subject, and à with a non-impersonal one.

Derived terms

• avoir la gâchette facile
• fille facile
• plus facile à dire qu'à faire

Related terms

• faire

Further reading

• “facile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ficela

Interlingua

Adjective

facile (comparative plus facile, superlative le plus facile)

1. easy

Antonyms

• difficile

Italian

Etymology

From Latin facilis (“easy”), from faci? (“I do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fa.t??i.le/
• Rhymes: -at?ile

Adjective

facile (plural facili)

1. easy
2. cosy
3. effortless

Derived terms

• facilmente

Related terms

• facilità
• facilitare
• facilone
• fare

Anagrams

• cefali
• fecali

Latin

Etymology 1

From the neuter accusative case form of facilis.

Alternative forms

• facul (anteclass.)

Adverb

facile (comparative facilius, superlative facillim?)

1. easily

   Synonym: faciliter

Etymology 2

Adjective

facile

1. nominative neuter singular of facilis
2. accusative neuter singular of facilis
3. vocative neuter singular of facilis

References

• facile in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• facile in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.

Middle French

Etymology

1441, borrowed from Latin facilis.

Adjective

facile m or f (plural faciles)

1. easy (not difficult)

References

English

Etymology

From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English fr?o (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *fr?, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“dear, beloved”), from *preyH- (“to love, please”). Related to friend. Cognate with West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), Low German free (“free”), German frei (“free”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian fri (“free”), Sanskrit ????? (priyá).

Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

The verb comes from Middle English freen, freo?en, from Old English fr?on, fr?o?an (“to free; make free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frij?n, from Proto-Germanic *frij?n?, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?, IPA^(key): /f?i?/, [f??i?]
• Rhymes: -i?
• Homophone: three (with th-fronting)

Adjective

free (comparative freer, superlative freest)

1. (social) Unconstrained.
   • 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, scene i:

     Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.

   Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered

   Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   1. Not imprisoned or enslaved.

      Antonyms: bound, enslaved, imprisoned

   2. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust

      Synonyms: unreserved, frank, communicative
   3. Generous; liberal.

   4. (obsolete) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
   5. Without obligations.

   6. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed.
   7. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; said of a government, institutions, etc.

   8. (software) With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.

      Synonym: libre

      Antonym: proprietary

   9. (software) Intended for release, as opposed to a checked version.
2. Obtainable without any payment.

   Synonyms: free of charge, gratis

   1. (by extension, chiefly advertising slang) complimentary

3. (abstract) Unconstrained.
   1. (mathematics) Unconstrained by relators.

   2. (mathematics, logic) Unconstrained by quantifiers.

      Antonym: bound

   3. (programming) Unconstrained of identifiers, not bound.

      Synonym: unbound

      Antonym: bound

   4. (linguistics) (of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
4. (physical) Unconstrained.
   1. Unobstructed, without blockages.

      Synonyms: clear, unobstructed

      Antonyms: blocked, obstructed

   2. Unattached or uncombined.

      Synonyms: loose, unfastened; see also Thesaurus:loose

   3. Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.

   4. (botany, mycology) Not attached; loose.
5. Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.

   Synonym: without

6. (dated) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.

7. (dated) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.
8. (Britain, law, obsolete) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

9. (law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

Antonyms

• unfree

Hyponyms

• -free

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

free (comparative more free, superlative most free)

1. Without needing to pay.

   Synonyms: for free, for nothing

2. (obsolete) Freely; willingly.

Translations

Verb

free (third-person singular simple present frees, present participle freeing, simple past and past participle freed)

1. (transitive) To make free; set at liberty; release.
2. (transitive) To rid of something that confines or oppresses.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564:

     Then I walked about, till I found on the further side, a great river of sweet water, running with a strong current; whereupon I called to mind the boat-raft I had made aforetime and said to myself, "Needs must I make another; haply I may free me from this strait. If I escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to forswear travel; and if I perish I shall be at peace and shall rest from toil and moil."

Derived terms

• befree

Synonyms

• befree
• emancipate
• let loose
• liberate
• manumit
• release
• unchain
• unfetter
• unshackle

Translations

Noun

free (plural frees)

1. (Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
   • 2006, [1]:

     Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.

2. free transfer
3. (hurling) The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
4. (swimming) the freestyle stroke

Translations

References

Anagrams

• feer, fere, reef

Galician

Verb

free

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of frear
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of frear

Low German

Alternative forms

• frie (more common)

Etymology

From Middle Low German vrîe, variant of vrî, from Old Saxon fr?, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *prey (“new”). Compare Dutch vrij, West Frisian frij, English free, German frei.

Adjective

free (comparative fre'er, superlative freest)

1. (rather rare) free

Declension

Derived terms

• Freeheit