different between glib vs facile

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Etymology 1

A shortening of either English glibbery (“slippery”) or its source, Low German glibberig, glibberich (“slippery”) / Dutch glibberig (“slippery”).

Adjective

glib (comparative glibber, superlative glibbest)

1. Having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding; superficial; shallow.
2. (dated) Smooth or slippery.

3. Artfully persuasive but insincere in nature; smooth-talking, honey-tongued, silver-tongued.

Derived terms

• glibly
• glibness

Translations

Verb

glib (third-person singular simple present glibs, present participle glibbing, simple past and past participle glibbed)

1. (transitive) To make glib.
   • 1628, Joseph Hal, “Christian Liberty Laid Forth,” in The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D., Volume V, London: Williams & Smith, 1808, p. 366, [1]

     There is a drunken liberty of the Tongue; which, being once glibbed with intoxicating liquor, runs wild through heaven and earth; and spares neither him that is God above, nor those which are called gods on earth.

   • 1730, Edward Strother, Dr. Radcliffe’s Practical Dispensatory, London: C. Rivington, p. 342, [2]

     They are good internally in Fits of the Stone in the Kidneys, by glibbing the Ureters, and making even a large Stone pass with ease […]

   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Gran’s Battle,” [3]

     We were having one of our bitterest cold snaps. Wind due north, shrieking over stiff land; two feet of snow, all substances glibbed with ice and granite-hard.

Etymology 2

From Irish glib.

Noun

glib (plural glibs)

1. (historical) A mass of matted hair worn down over the eyes, formerly worn in Ireland.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:

     Whom when she saw in wretched weedes disguiz'd, / With heary glib deform'd and meiger face, / Like ghost late risen from his grave agryz'd, / She knew him not […].

   • The Irish have, from the Scythians, mantles and long glibs, which is a thick curled bush of hair hanging down over their eyes, and monstrously disguising them.

   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More, or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society

     Their wild costume of the glib and mantle.

   • 1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho! [[s:Westward Ho!/Chapter {{{1}}}|Chapter {{{1}}}]]

     a dozen of his ruffians at his heels, each with his glib over his ugly face, and his skene in his hand

Etymology 3

Compare Old English and dialect lib to castrate, geld, Danish dialect live, Low German and Old Dutch lubben.

Verb

glib (third-person singular simple present glibs, present participle glibbing, simple past and past participle glibbed)

1. (obsolete) To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.
   • 1623: William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act II Scene 1

     Fourteen they shall not see
     To bring false generations. They are co-heirs;
     And I had rather glib myself than they
     Should not produce fair issue.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *glib?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lî?b/

Noun

gl?b m (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. mud, mire

Declension

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