Definition of easy in English:

be easier said than done


• Be more easily talked about than put into practice.

  ‘going on an economy drive is easier said than done’

  More example sentences

  • ‘This is often easier said than done because it takes practice and commitment.’
  • ‘I know, it's easier said than done, but it is something to aim for.’
  • ‘At the other end the Westport forwards will have to step up to the plate in a big way but that's easier said than done against the Nallens and company.’
  • ‘Putting quality on to the nation's screens (and into the nation's radio speakers) is easier said than done.’
  • ‘Indeed, to cultivate altruism is easier said than done and to do away with time-honoured beliefs is almost hopeless.’
  • ‘The problem is that growing protein crystals is a lot easier said than done - at least on terra firma.’
  • ‘Forty years' experience has shown this is easier said than done, but surely it's possible.’
  • ‘Though I know that is easier said than done, I can support that goal as an ideal.’
  • ‘Because inactivity weakens the back muscles, pain sufferers should stay active, but it is sometimes easier said than done.’
  • ‘The etiquette rule is to use the furthest outside one as the different courses are served, but that is easier said than done.’
easy does it


• Used to advise someone to approach a task carefully and slowly.

  ‘with father's wine in the back I mustn't drive too fast, so easy does it’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Easy, easy does it, not too much, just a little bit more.’
  • ‘So easy does it with the imagery from now on, I promise.’
  • ‘Whether your sending out a quick ‘hello’ or ‘meet us here later’, it's easy does it all the way.’
  • ‘Carter shushed her, ‘Hey, easy does it there, Laura.’’
  • ‘‘Whoa, easy does it,’ stated the man Jasper had so uncharacteristically bashed into.’
easy on the eye (or ear)
informal

• Pleasant to look at (or listen to)

  ‘a charming village that is easy on the eye’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The paintings are easy on the eye and very pleasant but we think that the artist is stopping short of something quite extraordinary.’
  • ‘The teenage appeal doubtless springs from the fact that all of the boys are pretty easy on the eye, but that's as far as the similarities go.’
  • ‘Both the cut scenes and in-game animation are quite smooth and generally pretty easy on the eye.’
  • ‘Thankfully, there was a diving team on hand to make sure none of us drowned - and they were all pretty easy on the eye.’
  • ‘We wanted people who are easy on the eye, who are really good actors, who are still in their 20s and who were available.’
  • ‘Neighbours of two new futuristic ‘solar dwellings’ have been warned that the environmentally-friendly properties may not be so easy on the eye.’
  • ‘Manicured lawns, weeded borders and pruned shrubs may be easy on the eye, but they're not necessarily great for encouraging wildlife.’
  • ‘Invested with 16 years of research, the trainers are not only easy on the eye but they're also alleged to help you exercise more efficiently.’
  • ‘Clean lines punctuated with specimen plants are ideal not only because they are easy on the eye, but they also have the practical benefit of aiding security.’
  • ‘My two nearest neighbours are rather nice chaps who also happen to be exceptionally easy on the eye.’
have it easy
informal

• Have no difficulties; be fortunate.

  ‘they have had it easy for too long and have become complacent’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The Bay Area is a fortunate place with plentiful resources so we kind of have it easy.’
  • ‘There is no single country that is having it easy.’
  • ‘Despite the expected traffic jams, potential electrical brown-outs and terrorist threats, modern Olympians and spectators have it easy, compared to their ancient counterparts.’
  • ‘They didn't have it easy because I am quite an impatient person when it comes to training, I just want to do as much as I can.’
  • ‘The girls who walked the ramp on Monday had to answer questions about every thing from history, philosophy to music and clearly they did not have it easy.’
  • ‘By comparison with my days of school report writing (all had to be written by hand, in permanent ink), teachers of today have it easy.’
  • ‘A sense of failure is a horrible feeling, especially to someone like me who's always had it easy, and never really failed a subject at school.’
  • ‘Blige, who grew up in the projects, has never had it easy, and the tough times remain embedded in her lyrics.’
  • ‘My guess is that throughout the early to mid 1990s Labour had it easy.’
  • ‘But for the life of me, I can't see how anybody in their right mind could possibly think she's had it easy.’
go (or be) easy on
informal

• 1Refrain from being harsh with or critical of (someone)

  ‘go easy on him, Rory, he's only little’

  More example sentences

  • ‘I think the press wants a good story, and they don't sit and think about who we're going to be easy on, who we're going to be hard on.’
  • ‘‘Don't you play games with me, now tell me and we'll go easy on you… well easier,’ Toby growled.’
  • ‘She's still nice and went easy on all the amateur performers.’
  • ‘I don't know why I went easy on them in my previous posts, as I wanted to share all the things they do poorly when I posted recaps.’
  • ‘Jack was livid but went easy on him as Frank bursts into tears quite readily now after the rough handling he got on the culture review.’
  • ‘The students were polite and went easy on the coach who was sacked earlier this season.’
  • ‘I was easy on him the week before the race and he was a good bit off full fitness.’
  • ‘Authorities will most likely resist any deal which may create a perception that they've gone easy on a person convicted for drug trafficking.’
  • ‘For what it's worth, I don't think Jay has gone easy on Arnold in the monologues but he has certainly left himself wide open to the charge.’
  • ‘Good leadership isn't about pandering to your troops and going easy on them - it's about training them to standard so they come alive from combat.’

• 2Be sparing in one's use or consumption of.

  ‘go easy on fatty foods’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Club heroes watch what they eat, go easy on the drink and refrain from cigarettes.’
  • ‘Counterintuitive though this may seem, many individuals get good control over cholesterol by going easy on their consumption of bread, potatoes, rice and pasta.’
  • ‘Snuggle if you can, and go easy on the drink - don't give him an excuse to say it was a mistake.’
  • ‘Considering I was supposed to be going easy on the carbs this week, this is bad.’
  • ‘Also, go easy on how much protein you eat, since large amounts can block calcium absorption.’
  • ‘In fact, the traditional English favorite, Yorkshire Pudding, was the way that farmers wives filled the family up on a wad of bread so that they went easy on the expensive meat.’
easy come, easy go


• Used especially in spoken English to indicate that a relationship or possession acquired without effort may be abandoned or lost without regret.

  More example sentences

  • ‘A job, a relationship, my savings account: It was easy come, easy go.’
  • ‘They've won fame rather than worked for it, and they've treated it pretty much like Viv Nicholson handled her pools win - easy come, easy go.’
  • ‘For him, allegations are easy come, easy go.’
  • ‘They nick them too, but I think easy come, easy go.’
I'm easy
informal

• Said by someone when offered a choice to indicate that they have no particular preference.

  More example sentences

  • ‘I enjoy producing things people like and can play in… I get a kick out of it and as long as I can break even, I'm easy.’
  • ‘There are a lot of good ways to do so - I'm easy like that.’
  • ‘If you don't want it to work, that's ok, I'm easy, I don't mind.’
sleep (or rest) easy


• Go to sleep without (or be untroubled by) worries.

  ‘this insurance policy will let you rest easy’

  More example sentences

  • ‘A Ladbrokes spokesman said: ‘It looks like all the bookies will be sleeping easy in their beds on Christmas morning.’’
  • ‘That's not my fight, and I'll sleep easy tonight knowing that I've answered the call of duty with an extra topping of usefulness.’
  • ‘How this person can sleep easy at night is beyond me.’
  • ‘They can sleep easy at night, burying thoughts that intruders may compromise their privacy.’
  • ‘Now you can sleep easy, safe in the knowledge that someone in a position of power is promoting your agenda.’
  • ‘Can we sleep easy at nights knowing that people are being paid sweatshop wages for our benefit?’
  • ‘Regardless of what the polls might indicate, citizens are no longer resting easy in the belief that their government can be trusted to protect their interests.’
  • ‘If you were worried that the band had lost their touch, that they just weren't capable of making a good album, you can rest easy.’
  • ‘But on the basis of present evidence we can rest easy.’
  • ‘The Home Secretary can rest easy in his bed tonight.’
of easy virtue
dated

• (of a woman) very receptive to sexual advances.

  ‘critics who believed that as a painter she must be a woman of easy virtue’

  More example sentences

  • ‘‘Most of the money was spent on booze and women of easy virtue - whores in other words,’ he told me in an interview.’
  • ‘Beautiful and well-bred, she suffered the hostile treatment of critics who believed that as a painter she must be a woman of easy virtue.’
  • ‘She speaks of a woman of easy virtue and outstanding beauty who, when painters went to her to take her portrait, ‘showed as much of her person as she could with propriety’.’
  • ‘In Shanghai Express, probably her finest film, she was a woman of easy virtue, mouthing the famous line.’
  • ‘There is a woman of easy virtue, also gleefully played by Jane Nash, who tries to entrap Bob and the usual subplot of the squire's nephew trying to anticipate his inheritance.’
  • ‘He is promptly thrown into the seamy world of Montreal's nightlife - its clubs, its cabarets, its women of easy virtue.’
  • ‘They looked gorgeous and portrayed, - and I hope they will not take this amiss - ladies of easy virtue decoratively and to the life.’
  • ‘In this case a lady reputed to be of easy virtue and a girlfriend of one of the local policemen, had made statements intimidating the men for trial.’
  • ‘Piercings were sometimes worn by women, but only those of easy virtue.’
  • ‘He has been brought up by a lady of easy virtue in the bazaar.’

  Synonyms

  promiscuous, sexually indiscriminate, free with one's favours, of easy virtue, unchaste, loose, wanton, abandoned, licentious, dissolute, dissipated, debauched

  View synonyms
stand easy!
Military


• Used to instruct soldiers standing at ease that they may relax their attitude further.

take the easy way out


• Extricate oneself from a difficult situation by choosing the simplest rather than the most honourable course of action.

  ‘she had taken the easy way out by returning the keys without a message’

  More example sentences

  • ‘We should ensure that the government does that work, rather than taking the easy way out and sacrificing justice to expediency.’
  • ‘Too often, the scripts choose to take the easy way out.’
  • ‘He chose to take the easy way out and slam the council.’
  • ‘As the economy plods along, many of us are choosing to take the easy way out.’
  • ‘As finance minister, Ng never took the easy way out.’
  • ‘I took the easy way out and did the very unsporting thing of hiding my assigned fabric inside the pockets as a lining.’
  • ‘It is just not true, as his critics assert, that he always took the easy way out.’
  • ‘In most science exhibitions, there are student groups that take the easy way out and opt for a project that can be put together using easily available material.’
  • ‘To take the easy way out, one might just chalk both up to blatant stupidity, but there are always other reasons as well.’
  • ‘There is a sense of entitlement that I think has caused many to take the easy way out.’
take it easy


• 1Proceed in a calm and relaxed manner.

  More example sentences

  • ‘At one point in my career, I started to realise that I should take it easy, I should calm down.’
  • ‘He said just, you know, be calm, take it easy.’
  • ‘It forces me to calm down, take it easy, and take every shot at a time, and forget the bad ones, which of course there are many.’
  • ‘‘Hey wow, calm down, take it easy girl,’ I said holding my hands up in self-defence.’
  • ‘How can I take it easy when Mark is off sneaking around with God knows who?’
  • ‘Larry, I think everyone should just kind of relax, take it easy.’
  • ‘You need to be comfortable and relaxed, so take it easy.’
  • ‘The little question mark at the end was left in the air to imply that we are relaxed about this, so take it easy, take it easy.’
  • ‘Well, in any case, you've got another few weeks around him, so I say take it easy.’
  • ‘‘Dude, take it easy, I was just messing around,’ Ryan wiped a little blood from his nose.’

• 2Make little effort; rest.

  More example sentences

  • ‘The application of aspirin and bed rest pulled him through it by midday today and he took it easy for the rest of the day, getting better by the hour.’
  • ‘Clearly both players preferred to take it easy and rest for their semi-finals.’
  • ‘Having done all the hard work, the time before kick-off on Saturday is a case of taking it easy, eating, resting and sleeping.’
  • ‘I rose at 8:30 and am here loafing around taking it easy with my cup of tea and reading the newspaper.’
  • ‘I've been relaxing around Madrid, taking it easy, enjoying the lie-ins and the food, not to mention the one or two drinks at night.’
  • ‘Since Christmas Day - just two days ago - I've been ‘chilling out’, relaxing and taking it easy.’
  • ‘Work was pretty busy this past week and then Thursday I got sick and have been mostly taking it easy around the house since then.’
  • ‘Basically, it's been a day and a half of taking it easy and ambling around in the heat.’
  • ‘He was clearly still taking it easy and trying to relax.’
  • ‘I decided to just relax and I took it easy all weekend long.’

Middle English (also in the sense ‘comfortable, tranquil’): from Old French aisie, past participle of aisier ‘put at ease, facilitate’ (see ease).