docile
UK/ˈdəʊ.saɪl//ˈdɑ.səl/
docile adjective: ready to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.
Adjective
docile (comparative more docile, superlative most docile)
- Ready to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.
- 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...1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →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.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
- 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.
- 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:
- compliant, malleable, meek, submissive, tractable, manageable
- Antonyms:
- perverse, defiant, rebellious, wilful
docile meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
docile in Hindi
- docile, submissive
- अधीन adhīn
docile in Tamil
- அடக்கமான, படியும், வசப்படுத்தத் தக்க, கட்டுப்படும், வசப்படுத்தத்தக்க
docile in Urdu
- مطیع, سدھڑ
docile in Bengali
- বাধ্য, শান্ত
More languagesFewer languages
- docile in Malayalam
- വിധേയമായ, വശ്യപ്പെടുന്ന, അധീനമാക്കാവുന്ന, എളുപ്പം നിയന്ത്രിക്കാവുന്ന
- docile in Kannada
- ಕಲಿಸಬಲ್ಲ, ತಿದ್ದಬಲ್ಲ, ಸಾಧು, ಮುಗ್ಧ
Examples of docile in a sentence
- The prisoners were docile, and accepted their lot with barely a mutter.
- That will ultimately culminate in meek, apologetic and docile behavioral reactions or sometimes in aggressive behavior.
- Here is a model with an alluring docile expression, wearing a ball gag.
Synonyms of docile
18 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of docile
| comparative | more docile |
|---|---|
| superlative | most docile |
Origin of docile
From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis, from docēre (“teach”). Compare Portuguese dócil ("docile").
Words formed from docile
Questions about docile
- What does docile mean?
- Docile means ready to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.
- What is docile in Hindi?
- Docile in Hindi is अधीन (adhīn). See Docile meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is docile?
- Docile is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce docile?
- Docile is pronounced /ˈdəʊ.saɪl/ (UK).
Words near docile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: docile (page history and authors); अधीन (Hindi) (page history and authors); docile (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); docile (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Docile (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); docile (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); docile (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-docile.ogg, en-au-docile.ogg.
Cite this entry: “docile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/docile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.