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

  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).