Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Easily bent or shaped. synonym: malleable.
  • adjective Capable of being changed or adjusted to meet particular or varied needs.
  • adjective Easily influenced, persuaded, or controlled.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Easy to be bent; readily yielding to force or pressure without rupture; flexible: as, willow is a pliable plant.
  • Flexible in disposition; easy to be bent, inclined, or persuaded; readily yielding to influence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline.
  • Synonyms Pliant, supple.
  • Compliant, yielding, tractable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being plied, turned, or bent; easy to be bent; flexible; pliant; supple; limber; yielding.
  • adjective Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to influence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline; easy to be persuaded; -- sometimes in a bad sense.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective soft, flexible, easily bent, formed, shaped, or molded

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective able to adjust readily to different conditions
  • adjective capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out
  • adjective susceptible to being led or directed
  • adjective capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from plier, to bend; see pliant.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French pliant, from Latin plicare ("fold").

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Examples

  • OLEDs come in pliable, layered sheets which conduct and emit light, making them great for screens and display monitors.

    GREEN BUILDING 101: DESIGN INNOVATION | Inhabitat 2006

  • She likes that these younger players are more " pliable, " a quality that she came to miss as her WNBA career continued.

    Back to School for a Basketball Coach Mike Sielski 2010

  • Building flexibility into search, email, and other Google products is critically important as we seek to organize the world's information, and it's only natural that we should continue to look for ways to make the use of such statistics more "pliable" as well.

    Archive 2007-03-01 2007

  • Building flexibility into search, email, and other Google products is critically important as we seek to organize the world's information, and it's only natural that we should continue to look for ways to make the use of such statistics more "pliable" as well.

    Google Notebook goes multi-lingual 2007

  • The end of their trunk feels firm but kind of pliable, like the cartilage in the end of your own nose.

    The Nature of Jade Deb Caletti 2007

  • Furthermore, the fact that Washington's goal in Iraq is complete control of that territory either directly or via some kind of pliable government seems to indicate that the mercenaries will be there awhile.

    The Illusion of Dividing and Conquering in Iraq 2007

  • Jordan, angry and insulted, would have none of it, and suggested that the police find someone more "pliable," telling the powers that be to take him or leave him.

    Hector Jordan - Trail-blazing Hispanic Hero 2006

  • The word "ratings" is not some kind of pliable, esoteric concept.

    RedState 2009

  • As we get deeper into the n|om, our body becomes so light and pliable that we can feel ourselves stretching.

    The Bushman Way of Tracking God PhD Bradford Keeney 2010

  • Brush the bread with enough olive oil to soften and make pliable 1/4 cup of olive oil should be plenty.

    All They're Cracked Up to Be Charlotte Druckman 2011

Comments

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  • The name of the one was Obstinate and the name of the other Pliable.

    John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

    September 19, 2009

  • From the book White Oleander by Janet Fitch. Pg.43

    "I saw that her face was melted and horribly pliable."

    November 1, 2010