How to Use docile in a Sentence

docile

adjective
  • His students were docile and eager to learn.
  • Join the gang, the rough and tough AI says to the polite and docile AI.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Well, the large and docile creatures carry a lot of blood.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 13 June 2023
  • These are not docile pets — and the ravenmaster bared the scars of nasty bites.
    William Booth, The Seattle Times, 26 Oct. 2018
  • More than once, she's replied that the bees are very gentle and docile.
    Lydia Wang, refinery29.com, 4 June 2021
  • Only the elderly and the very docile are left in the villages.
    Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, 24 Oct. 2018
  • Frankly, Tiger’s crowds have become a lot more docile than the weather.
    Marcus Hayes, Philly.com, 15 June 2018
  • There were reports that she had been jailed inside the Zabeel Palace and kept docile with drugs.
    Joshua Hammer, Town & Country, 4 Jan. 2022
  • Will Speaker Nancy Pelosi now herd them across it like a docile flock of lambs?
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 31 July 2022
  • Esther eats and becomes more docile and keeps her tongue, much to the chagrin of the other Aunts.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 June 2021
  • Sheep—docile, ravenous and just the right height—easily smoked the field.
    Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, 5 Sep. 2022
  • In the near future, the Ilori aliens take over Earth and outlaw all art in order to keep humans docile.
    Hanif Abdurraqib, BostonGlobe.com, 10 June 2022
  • The trainers own three brown bears but only one, Mischa, is docile enough for shows.
    Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2019
  • The meatpackers have joined hands to funnel cheap, docile labor to these places.
    NBC News, 10 Jan. 2020
  • Drive with a lackadaisical right foot and the crossover is docile and well-tempered.
    Michael Harley, Robb Report, 27 July 2021
  • This print shows a bison crossing the road, in that carefree kind of way only a giant (and docile) beast of the west can.
    Mark Stock, Men's Health, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Girls are supposed to be more docile and not as exploratory as boys.
    Samantha Schmidt, Washington Post, 23 July 2019
  • Some of the qualities that show pigs need to be successful are to obey commands and be docile.
    Mayra Cruz, Houston Chronicle, 27 Jan. 2018
  • Early on, the mainstream press was docile in its coverage of the war on terror.
    Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, Daily Intelligencer, 21 Jan. 2018
  • The stowaway swarm had snaked its way across the water to freedom—only to roost in one corner of the table in a docile clump.
    Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 June 2021
  • Cradduck stressed that longhorns in general are smart and docile.
    René A. Guzman, San Antonio Express-News, 18 Feb. 2021
  • The Sacramento and American Rivers were low and docile.
    James Ross Gardner, The New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2023
  • What is stubborn and disciplined one day is too docile the next.
    Evan Grant, Dallas News, 28 Apr. 2021
  • In the front seat Vierheller holds the docile boy friend of his discontent passenger.
    Glen Barber, The Denver Post, 9 June 2017
  • And while the world has condemned his disappearance, the US has remained quite docile.
    Alex Ward, Vox, 18 Oct. 2018
  • Sweet, docile mogwai turn from Christmas presents to cackling demons at the touch of water, which is when the real fun starts.
    Paul Schrodt, Men's Health, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Stingray City, a group of sandbars located 25 miles off the shore of Grand Cayman, offers you a chance to snorkel and be among docile stingrays.
    Kayla Brock, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Normally a docile dog, the pup’s protective instincts kicked in, prompting him to bite the stranger on the leg, the couple told Fox News.
    Madeline Farber, Fox News, 11 Aug. 2018
  • This year, the union is sounding the alarm about the dugong — a large and docile marine mammal that lives from the eastern coast of Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.
    Patrick Whittle, ajc, 10 Dec. 2022
  • Then there’s Howard, the head trainer whose job is to get the horses docile enough to be handled and possibly ridden.
    Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'docile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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