Adjacent Words

Pliable definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PLI'ABLE, a. [L. plico.]
1. Easy to be bent; that readily yields to pressure without rupture; flexible; as, willow is a pliable plant.
2. Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to moral influence, arguments, persuasion or discipline; as a pliable youth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: susceptible to being led or directed; "fictile masses of people ripe for propaganda" [syn: fictile, pliable]
2: capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out; "ductile copper"; "malleable metals such as gold"; "they soaked the leather to made it pliable"; "pliant molten glass"; "made of highly tensile steel alloy" [syn: ductile, malleable, pliable, pliant, tensile, tractile]
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: capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking; "a flexible wire"; "a pliant young tree" [syn: bendable, pliable, pliant, waxy]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from plier to bend, fold — more at ply Date: 14th century 1. a. supple enough to bend freely or repeatedly without breaking b. yielding readily to others ; complaisant 2. adjustable to varying conditions Synonyms: see plastic • pliability noun • pliableness noun • pliably adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 bending easily; supple. 2 yielding, compliant. Derivatives: pliability n. pliableness n. pliably adv. Etymology: F f. plier bend: see PLY(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pliable Pli"a*ble, a. [F., fr. plier to bend, to fold. See Ply, v.] 1. Capable of being plied, turned, or bent; easy to be bent; flexible; pliant; supple; limber; yielding; as, willow is a pliable plant. 2. Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to influence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline; easy to be persuaded; -- sometimes in a bad sense; as, a pliable youth. ``Pliable she promised to be.'' --Dr. H. More. -- Pli"a*ble*ness, n. -- Pli"a*bly, adv.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If something is pliable, you can bend it easily without cracking or breaking it. As your baby grows bigger, his bones become less pliable... ? rigid ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Flexible, flexile, pliant, supple, limber, lithe, lithesome, easily bent. 2. Compliant, yielding, manageable, tractable, easily persuaded, docile, obsequious, ductile, facile.

Moby Thesaurus

abulic, accessible, adaptable, afraid, amenable, appliable, applicable, apt, bendable, bending, bendy, biddable, bright, clever, compliant, convenient, cowardly, creased, crimped, docile, dog-eared, doubled, ductile, educable, elastic, exploitable, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, faint, fainthearted, feasible, feeble, feebleminded, fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, flounced, fluted, foldable, folded, folding, foolproof, formable, formative, frail, gathered, giving, handy, impressible, impressionable, infirm, influenceable, instructable, intelligent, invertebrate, like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, malleable, manageable, maneuverable, manipulable, manipulatable, moldable, motivated, movable, open, open-minded, operable, persuadable, persuasible, pervious, plaited, plastic, pleated, pliant, plicate, plicated, plicatile, practical, quick, quilled, ready, receptive, responsive, reusable, ripe for instruction, ruffled, schoolable, sensitive, sequacious, shapable, spineless, springy, suasible, submissive, suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, teachable, thirsty for knowledge, tractable, tractile, trainable, tucked, twilled, untroublesome, usable, utilizable, weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded, weak-willed, whippy, wieldable, wieldy, willing, willowy, workable, yielding