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DOCILE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed
Example:
the docile masses of an enslaved nation
Classified under:
Similar:
sheepish; sheeplike (like or suggestive of a sheep in docility or stupidity or meekness or timidity)
yielding (inclined to yield to argument or influence or control)
Also:
obedient (dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority)
manipulable; tractable (easily managed (controlled or taught or molded))
Antonym:
stubborn (tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield)
Derivation:
docility (the trait of being agreeably submissive and manageable)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Easily handled or managed
Example:
a gentle old horse, docile and obedient
Synonyms:
docile; gentle
Classified under:
Similar:
tame; tamed (brought from wildness into a domesticated state)
Derivation:
docility (the trait of being agreeably submissive and manageable)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Ready and willing to be taught
Example:
teachable youngsters
Synonyms:
docile; teachable
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
manipulable; tractable (easily managed (controlled or taught or molded))
Context examples:
Finding the child more docile and amiable than her sister, the old lady felt it her duty to try and counteract, as far as possible, the bad effects of home freedom and indulgence.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I found my pupil sufficiently docile, though disinclined to apply: she had not been used to regular occupation of any kind.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Jane, you are docile, diligent, disinterested, faithful, constant, and courageous; very gentle, and very heroic: cease to mistrust yourself—I can trust you unreservedly.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
As she grew up, a sound English education corrected in a great measure her French defects; and when she left school, I found in her a pleasing and obliging companion: docile, good-tempered, and well-principled.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
