> Thinking ambiguity can be removed if you only use common words is misguided.
Overall, based on all of the comments in this subthread, it seems that “facile” is most often meant simply mean “shallow”… don’t use a fancy word where a simple one will suffice.
Of course there isn’t an equivalency: at the very least the choice of words in the face of synonyms is meant to signal something beyond what the word and sentence itself is supposed to communicate, like “I sound intelligent”.
Just because you didn’t expect to encounter a word, why would you assume the author dwelled on the choice and consulted thesaurus specifically to impress you, and it didn’t come as the most appropriate word for the occasion like your choice would to you?
Overall, based on all of the comments in this subthread, it seems that “facile” is most often meant simply mean “shallow”… don’t use a fancy word where a simple one will suffice.