docile

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“
With us she was always gentle--docile, rather; and one day we came to know her real measure, and--we never forgot her I bounced out of bed at her call this morning, and bounced my breakfast into a healthy, good-natured stomach.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Ready and willing to be taught; teachable.
  2. adjective Yielding to supervision, direction, or management; tractable.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Absolutely no heroism whatsoever required. the poor beasties are very docile, and the native Indians would take caribou or moose only as meat for the winter. there is no sport in it whatsoever! —  Balloon Juice
  • We are docile, and thugs like an easy target, it makes them feel big. —  Boston.com Most Popular
  • He said bears in the area are usually docile, adding fishermen who used to throw salmon guts on shore for the animals are no longer doing that. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • The Arabs would become docile, and the Middle East would succumb, like so many dominoes. —  Le Monde diplomatique - English edition
  • They are very docile, as are we, when we need to trim bushes around them. —  CNN Political Ticker
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin docilis, from docēre, to teach; see dek- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also docil; = French docile = Spanish dócil = Portuguese docil = Italian docile, from Latin docilis, easily taught, teachable, from docere, teach. Cf. didactic.
 

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/ˈdɑsɪl/
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