pli·a·ble

(plī′ə-bəl)

adj.

1. Easily bent or shaped. See Synonyms at malleable.

2. Capable of being changed or adjusted to meet particular or varied needs: a pliable policy.

3. Easily influenced, persuaded, or controlled: replaced the complainer with a more pliable subordinate.

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

pli′a·bil′i·ty, pli′a·ble·ness n.

pli′a·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pliable

(ˈplaɪəbəl)

adj

easily moulded, bent, influenced, or altered

ˌpliaˈbility, ˈpliableness n

ˈpliably adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pli•a•ble

(ˈplaɪ ə bəl)

adj.

1. easily bent; flexible; supple.

2. easily influenced or persuaded; yielding.

3. adjusting readily; adaptable.

[1425–75; late Middle English < Middle French, =pli(er) to bend (see ply²) + -able -able]

pli`a•bil′i•ty, pli′a•ble•ness, n.

pli′a•bly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	pliable - susceptible to being led or directed; "fictile masses of people ripe for propaganda" fictile susceptible - (often followed by `of' or `to') yielding readily to or capable of; "susceptible to colds"; "susceptible of proof"
	2.	pliable - 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" tractile, ductile, malleable, pliant, tensile formed - having or given a form or shape
	3.	pliable - able to adjust readily to different conditions; "an adaptable person"; "a flexible personality"; "an elastic clause in a contract" elastic, flexible, pliant adaptable - capable of adapting (of becoming or being made suitable) to a particular situation or use; "to succeed one must be adaptable"; "the frame was adaptable to cloth bolts of different widths"
	4.	pliable - capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking; "a flexible wire"; "a pliant young tree" bendable, waxy, pliant flexile, flexible - able to flex; able to bend easily; "slim flexible birches"

pliable

adjective

1. flexible, plastic, supple, lithe, limber, malleable, pliant, tensile, bendy, ductile, bendable The baskets are made with young, pliable spruce roots.
flexible stiff, rigid

2. compliant, susceptible, responsive, manageable, receptive, yielding, adaptable, docile, impressionable, easily led, pliant, tractable, persuadable, influenceable, like putty in your hands His young queen was pliable and easily influenced.
compliant stubborn, intractable, inflexible, wilful, unyielding, obstinate, headstrong, unbending, obdurate, unadaptable

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

pliable

adjective

1. Capable of being shaped, bent, or drawn out, as by hammering or pressure:

ductile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, malleable, moldable, plastic, pliant, supple, workable.

2. Capable of adapting or being adapted:

adaptable, adaptive, adjustable, elastic, flexible, malleable, pliant, supple.

3. Easily altered or influenced:

ductile, elastic, flexible, flexile, impressionable, malleable, plastic, pliant, suggestible, supple.

Translations

سَهْل اللي

ohebný

smidig

biegsam

plegadizo

flexible

sveigjanlegur

arrendevole flessibile

lokāmslokans

esnek

易弯的

pliable

[ˈplaɪəbl] ADJ (also fig) → flexible

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

pliable

[ˈplaɪəb^əl] adj

[roots, material, bones] → souple

[person] → malléable

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

pliable

, pliant

adj → biegsam; leather → geschmeidig; character, mind, person → formbar; (= docile) → fügsam

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

pliable

[ˈplaɪəbl] pliant [ˈplaɪənt] adj (substance) → pieghevole, flessibile (fig) (person) → malleabile

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

pliable

(ˈplaiəbl) adjective

easily bent. pliable wire.

ˌpliaˈbility noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

When one's body is young, it is very pliable, and hard work will mould it like putty according to the nature of the work.

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The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly vapored with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary ropes; for while tar, as ordinarily used, makes the hemp more pliable to the rope-maker, and also renders the rope itself more convenient to the sailor for common ship use; yet, not only would the ordinary quantity too much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which it must be subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in general by no means adds to the rope's durability or strength, however much it may give it compactness and gloss.

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Indeed the moon, liquid and pliable in the first days of its formation, was originally a perfect sphere; but being soon drawn within the attraction of the earth, it became elongated under the influence of gravitation.

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'Well, if they COULD not, it was not their fault: you cannot expect stone to be as pliable as clay.'

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But she was more pliable under his hands than a mere companionship would have made her, owing to her unavoidable dependence upon his mother, and, through that lady's comparative helplessness, upon him.

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Gold is the most common metal in the Land of Oz and is used for many purposes because it is soft and pliable.

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you can't even speak to such a perfectly pliable person as Lady Lundie?

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She felt an immense need of some one to speak to, and she had never before seen any one who seemed so quick and pliable, so likely to understand everything.

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At first he was content to achieve a cutting edge of a couple of inches, with which he cut a long, pliable bow, a handle for his knife, a stout cudgel, and a goodly supply of arrows.

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My sister Sarah, with all the advantages of youth, was, strangely enough, less pliable. She did full justice to Pesca's excellent qualities of heart; but she could not accept him implicitly, as my mother accepted him, for my sake.

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I hope you may find Parchment as pliable as I am -- I wish you well through it.

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“Praise be God, I no fly down into the lake,” returned the Frenchman, with a visage that was divided between pain, occasioned by a few large scratches that he had received in forcing his head through the crust, and the look of complaisance that seemed natural to his pliable features.

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