easy
/ˈiːzi/ adjective, adverb, noun, verb, interjection
Forms easier easiest easies easying easied aisy easie eazy EZ
- adjective (now rare except in certain expressions) Comfortable; at ease. “Now that I know it's taken care of, I can rest easy at night.”
- adjective Requiring little skill or effort. “It's often easy to wake up but hard to get up.”
- adjective Causing ease; giving comfort, or freedom from care or labour. “Rich people live in easy circumstances, that is, the easy life.”
- adjective Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth. “easy manners; an easy style”
- adjective (informal, derogatory, usually of a woman or girl) Consenting readily to sex. “She has a reputation for being easy; they say she slept with half the senior class.”
- adjective Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; compliant.
- adjective (finance, dated) Not straitened as to money matters; opposed to tight. “The market is easy.”
- adverb In a relaxed or casual manner. “After his illness, John decided to take it easy.”
- adverb In a manner without strictness or harshness; gently; softly. “Jane went easier on him after he broke his arm.”
- adverb Handily; at the very least. “This project will cost 15 million dollars, easy.”
- noun (rare, informal) Something that is easy.
- verb (rowing) Synonym of easy-oar.
- interjection (informal) Requesting deintensification or a halt.
- noun (World War II era, joint US/RAF) radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter E.
Synonyms
relaxed relaxing soft trivial facile fast light eath as a duck takes to water basic prosaic no-fuss easy as 123 easy as ABC easy as cake easy as pie easy as falling off a log easy as rolling off a log easy as toffee easy-breezy easygoing leisurely gentle comfortable prosperous well-fixed well-heeled well-off well-situated well-to-do
Antonyms
uneasy anxious difficult hard uneath challenging complex esoteric tough tricky
Etymology
From Middle English esy, eesy, partly from Middle English ese (“ease”) + -y, equivalent to ease + -y, and partly from Anglo-Norman eisé from Old French aisié (“eased, at ease, at leisure”), past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise (“empty space, elbow room, opportunity”), of uncertain origin. See ease. Merged with Middle English ethe, eathe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Compare also Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi, Old Norse auðr, auð-, Icelandic auð (adverb), auð-, all meaning "easy." More at ease, eath.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth; as, easy manners; an easy style. "The easy vigor of a line." Pope.
- adjective Not causing, or attended with, pain or disquiet, or much exertion; affording ease or rest; as, an easy carriage; a ship having an easy motion; easy movements, as in dancing. "Easy ways to die." Shak.
Etymology [OF. aisié, F. aisé, prop. p. p. of OF. aisier. See Ease, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “easy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details