pliability

American  

[plahy-uh-bil-i-tee] / ˌplaɪ əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

Rarely pliableness

noun

1. the quality of being easily bent without breaking; flexibility.

   Sweet grass was favored by Native American basket makers for its sweet smell, pliability, and durability.

2. the quality of adjusting readily to change; adaptability.

   Education should take advantage of the pliability of a child's mind and encourage a sense of curiosity.

3. the quality of being easily influenced or persuaded.

   Recent political appointments have been based not on merit, competency, or ability, but on the candidate’s pliability, uncritical loyalty, and toadying behavior.

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Other Word Forms

• nonpliability
  noun
• nonpliableness
  noun
• unpliableness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of pliability

pliabl(e) ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Explanation

The quality of being flexible, either literally or figuratively, is pliability. The pliability of aluminum foil is what makes it such a great material for wrapping your leftovers — or fashioning a crown for your cat. Clay's pliability is what makes it moldable. This word comes from the French pliable, "to bend," and a Latin root meaning "to fold." Anything you can bend, fold, twist or turn without breaking it has this quality of pliability. Figuratively, pliability refers to someone who's easy to "bend" or influence: "The pliability of those kids meant they'd believe anything they read online."

Example Sentences

Pliability combined with iron fixity of purpose; 2.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George

Pliability would have become a habit rather than a matter of judgment and will, for fortitude only comes by practice.

From Success (Second Edition) by Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, Baron

Immediately above Reason is a region producing Pliability and Versatility, which greatly assists the reasoning faculty in mastering unfamiliar truth.

From Buchanan's Journal of Man, November 1887 Volume 1, Number 10 by Buchanan, Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes)

It embraces a group of organs of harmonious tendency, such as Friendship, Politeness, Imitation, Humor, Pliability and Admiration, as the Combative group is hostile, stubborn, morose and censorious.

From Buchanan's Journal of Man, December 1887 Volume 1, Number 11 by Buchanan, Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes)

Pliability and adaptability were useful and important qualities which she found more than serviceable in these early years of her transition from a comparatively humble home to one of continuous splendour and almost constant state.

From The Life of King Edward VII with a sketch of the career of King George V by Hopkins, J. Castell (John Castell)