Adjacent Words

Flexible definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLEX'IBLE, a. [L. flexibilis, from flecto, flexi, to bend, plico.]
1. That may be bent; capable of being turned or forced from a straight line or form without breaking; pliant; yielding to pressure; not stiff; as a flexible rod; a flexible plant.
2. Capable of yielding to intreaties, arguments or other moral force; that may be persuaded to compliance; not invincibly rigid; or obstinate; not inexorable.
Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people.
It often denotes, easy or too easy to yield or comply; wavering; inconstant; not firm.
3. Ductile; manageable; tractable; as the tender and flexible minds of youth. Flexible years or time of life, the time when the mind is tractable.
4. That may be turned or accommodated.
This was a principle more flexible to their purpose.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: capable of being changed; "flexible schedules" [ant: inflexible]
2: able to flex; able to bend easily; "slim flexible birches" [syn: flexible, flexile] [ant: inflexible]
3: able to adjust readily to different conditions; "an adaptable person"; "a flexible personality"; "an elastic clause in a contract" [syn: elastic, flexible, pliable, pliant]
4: bending and snapping back readily without breaking [syn: flexible, whippy]
5: making or willing to make concessions; "loneliness tore through him...whenever he thought of...even the compromising Louis du Tillet" [syn: compromising, conciliatory, flexible] [ant: inflexible, sturdy, uncompromising]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 15th century 1. capable of being flexed ; pliant 2. yielding to influence ; tractable 3. characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements <a flexible foreign policy> <a flexible schedule> Synonyms: see elastic • flexibility noun • flexibly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 able to bend without breaking; pliable; pliant. 2 easily led; manageable; docile. 3 adaptable; versatile; variable (works flexible hours). Derivatives: flexibility n. flexibly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF flexible or L flexibilis (as FLEX(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flexible Flex"i*ble, a. [L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible.] 1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle. When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. --Shak. 2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering. Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people. --Bacon. Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. --Shak. 3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a flexible language. This was a principle more flexible to their purpose. --Rogers. Syn: Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile; obsequious; inconstant; wavering. -- Flex"i*ble*ness, n. -- Flex"i*bly, adv.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A flexible object or material can be bent easily without breaking. ...brushes with long, flexible bristles. = pliable ADJ • flexibility The flexibility of the lens decreases with age. 2. Something or someone that is flexible is able to change easily and adapt to different conditions and circumstances as they occur. Look for software that's flexible enough for a range of abilities. ...flexible working hours. = adaptable ADJ [approval] • flexibility The flexibility of distance learning would be particularly suited to busy managers.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Pliable, pliant, limber, lithe, supple, easily bent, flexile. 2. Tractable, pliant, pliable, yielding, complaisant, compliant, affable, gentle, ductile, docile.

Moby Thesaurus

able to adapt, acquiescent, adaptable, adaptive, adjustable, all-around, alterable, alterative, ambidextrous, amenable, amphibious, bendable, bending, biddable, bouncy, buoyant, changeable, checkered, complaisant, compliant, conformable, convenient, cooperative, creased, crimped, docile, dog-eared, doubled, ductile, easy, elastic, ever-changing, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, feasible, fictile, flexile, flexuous, flounced, fluid, fluted, foldable, folded, folding, foolproof, formable, formative, gathered, generally capable, giving, handy, impermanent, impressible, impressionable, kaleidoscopic, like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, lively, malleable, manageable, maneuverable, many-sided, metamorphic, mobile, modifiable, moldable, movable, mutable, nonuniform, obedient, other-directed, permutable, persuadable, persuasible, plaited, plastic, pleated, pliable, pliant, plicate, plicated, plicatile, practical, protean, proteiform, quilled, receptive, resilient, resourceful, responsive, rubbery, ruffled, sensitive, sequacious, shapable, springy, stretch, stretchable, stretchy, submissive, supple, susceptible, tensile, tractable, tractile, transient, transitory, tucked, twilled, two-handed, unaustere, undemanding, unexacting, unharsh, unsevere, unstrict, untroublesome, variable, versatile, whippy, wieldable, wieldy, willowy, yielding