supple
Americanadjective
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bending readily without breaking or becoming deformed; pliant; flexible.
a supple bough.
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characterized by ease in bending; limber; lithe.
supple movements.
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characterized by ease, responsiveness, and adaptability in mental action.
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compliant or yielding.
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obsequious; servile.
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
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bending easily without damage
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capable of or showing easy or graceful movement; lithe
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mentally flexible; responding readily
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disposed to agree, sometimes to the point of servility
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has suppledperfect 3rd person singular
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have suppledperfect
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have been supplingperfect progressive
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are supplingprogressive
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am supplingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been supplingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is supplingprogressive 3rd person singular
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supplingparticiple
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supplessingular 3rd person
Past
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had suppledperfect
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was supplingprogressive singular
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had been supplingperfect progressive
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were supplingprogressive plural
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suppledparticiple
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suppledsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of supple
1250–1300; (adj.) Middle English souple flexible, compliant < Old French: soft, yielding, lithe < Latin supplic- (stem of supplex ) submissive, suppliant, equivalent to sup- sup- + -plic-, variously explained as akin to plicāre to fold 1, bend (thus meaning “bent over”; cf. complex), or to plācāre to placate 1 (thus meaning “in the attitude of a suppliant”); (v.) Middle English supplen to soften, derivative of the noun (compare Old French asoplir )
Explanation
Something or someone that is supple bends and moves easily, like a contortionist at a circus sideshow. If you can wrap your legs around your neck, you most likely have a supple body. Supple is often used as an adjective describing a body — such as a dancer’s; a fabric — such as soft leather; or a sound — such as an accomplished singer’s voice. This makes for a strange supple family, but all of its members can move with ease and flexibility. More idiomatically, supple can also be used to describe a mind. In this sense, it does not mean “easily brainwashed,” but has a more positive association with the open-mindedness of free-thinkers.
Vocabulary lists containing supple
The Hunger Games
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Romeo and Juliet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Under her spell, steel is transformed into supple leather, sagging vinyl, crinkled plastic.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Indeed, his playing is as supple and inventive as ever.
From Salon • May 12, 2026
That makes me feel comfortable when it’s technical and not actually getting lost in this thing of like, “I need complete silence. My body needs to be supple and ready.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
Last week, one of Italy's top luxury brands, Prada, invited journalists to its Scandicci factory outside Florence, showing the step-by-step transformation of supple leather into luxury handbags.
From Barron's • Dec. 3, 2025
Women who gave birth earlier, when the infant’s brain and head were still relatively small and supple, fared better and lived to have more children.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
