docile

English

WOTD – 31 July 2006, 11 February 2007

Etymology

From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis, from docēre (“teach”). Compare Spanish dócil ("docile").

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdəʊ.saɪl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑ.səl/, /ˈdɑ.saɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (US) -ɑːsəl

Adjective

docile (comparative more docile, superlative most docile)

1. Ready to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.
   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over and caressing her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long time; they remaining clasped in one another’s arms, in the glorious sunshine that had crept in with Florence.
     He dressed himself for going out, with a docile submission to her entreaty; and walking with a feeble gait, and looking back, with a tremble, at the room in which he had been so long shut up, and where he had seen the picture in the glass, passed out with her into the hall.

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

     Harriet certainly was not clever, but she had a sweet, docile, grateful disposition; was totally free from conceit; and only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to.

2. Yielding to control or supervision, direction, or management.

   Such literature may well be anathema to those, who are too docile and petty for their own good.

Synonyms

• (ready to accept instruction): amenable, compliant, teachable
• (yielding to control): compliant, malleable, meek, submissive, tractable, manageable

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “yielding to control”): perverse, defiant, rebellious, wilful

Derived terms

• docilely
• docileness
• docility
• docilization
• docilize
• nondocile
• undocile

Related terms

• docent
• doctor
• doctorate
• doctrinaire
• doctrinal
• doctrine
• document
• indoctrinate

Translations

yielding to control

• Bulgarian: податлив (bg) (podatliv), послушен (bg) (poslušen)
• Catalan: dòcil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 溫順嘅 / 温顺嘅 (wan¹ seon⁶ ge³)

• Crimean Tatar: yuvaş
• Czech: poslušný (cs) m, poddajný (cs) m, povolný (cs), krotký
• Danish: føjelig
• Dutch: volgzaam (nl)
• Finnish: säyseä (fi), alistuva (fi), kuulias, tottelevainen (fi)
• French: docile (fr)
• Galician: dócil (gl), manso
• German: fügsam (de), gefügig (de), steuerbar (de), handhabbar (de), sanftmütig, gutmütig (de), unterwürfig
• Greek: πειθήνιος (el) (peithínios), υπάκουος (el) (ypákouos)

  Ancient Greek: κτίλος (ktílos)

• Hungarian: kezelhető (hu)
• Italian: docile (it), mansueto (it)
• Japanese: 従順な (ja) (jūjun na), おとなしい (ja) (otonashii)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sernerm (ku)

• Māori: kōratarata, kōtungatunga
• Norwegian: medgjørlig
• Occitan: docil (oc)
• Plautdietsch: ontlich
• Polish: potulny (pl), uległy (pl)
• Portuguese: dócil (pt)
• Romanian: docil (ro)
• Russian: покорный (ru) (pokornyj), послу́шный (ru) (poslúšnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: soirbh, sèimh
• Serbo-Croatian: pokoran (sh) m, poslušan (sh)
• Spanish: dócil (es)
• Swedish: foglig (sv)
• Turkish: yumuşak başlı (tr), uysal (tr)

accepting instructions

• Bulgarian: схватлив (bg) (shvatliv), възприемчив (bg) (vǎzpriemčiv)
• Catalan: dòcil (ca)
• Czech: poslušný (cs)
• Danish: føjelig c, lydig
• Finnish: tottelevainen (fi), kuulias
• German: fügsam (de), gefügig (de), gehorsam (de), folgsam (de), gelehrig (de)
• Hungarian: irányítható (hu)
• Italian: obbediente (it)
• Polish: pojętny (pl) m
• Russian: поня́тливый (ru) (ponjátlivyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: poslušan (sh) m, poučljiv (sh)
• Spanish: dócil (es)
• Swedish: lydig (sv), foglig (sv)
• Turkish: uysal (tr), uslu (tr)

Anagrams

• cleido-, coiled, coldie

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin docilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ.sil/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -il

Adjective

docile (plural dociles)

1. docile

   Near-synonym: obéissant

Derived terms

• docilement
• docilité

Further reading

• “docile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Etymology

From Latin docilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.t͡ʃi.le/
• Rhymes: -ɔtʃile
• Hyphenation: dò‧ci‧le

Adjective

docile m or f by sense (plural docili)

1. compliant, obedient, docile, meek

   Antonym: indocile

Derived terms

• docilità
• docilmente

Further reading

• docile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

docile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of docilis