malleable

[mal-ee-uh-buhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malleable ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

capable of being extended or shaped by hammering or by pressure from rollers.

adaptable or tractable: the malleable mind of a child.

Origin of malleable

1350–1400; Middle English malliable < Medieval Latin malleābilis, equivalent to malle(āre) to hammer (derivative of Latin malleus hammer) + -ābilis -able

Related formsmal·le·a·bly, adverbmal·le·a·bil·i·ty, mal·le·a·ble·ness, nounnon·mal·le·a·ble, adjectiveun·mal·le·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms for malleable

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malleable ON THESAURUS.COM

2. impressionable, moldable, flexible, pliable.

Antonyms for malleable

2. refractory, intractable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for malleable

Contemporary Examples of malleable

Even adults like to shoehorn their bottoms into a malleable rubber swing and take a ride down memory lane.
When An Adopted Child Won’t Attach
Tina Traster
May 2, 2014
This gig, however, has its unique set of challenges around which to be malleable.
Interactive Play ‘Queen of the Night’ Opens at Restored Diamond Horseshoe Club
Brian Spitulnik
December 31, 2013
They see gun rights as insecure, malleable, and under constant attack.
Clarify the Second Amendment?
Justin Green
January 30, 2013
Lapid may be malleable, but Bennett was without question on the hard-right, verging on undemocratic.
A Vote Against Bibi, Not His Policies
Ali Gharib
January 22, 2013
Reality, for Gingrich, is a malleable phenomenon—also, these days, a pretty astonishing one.
Newt Gingrich Shape-Shifts Through New Hampshire
Lloyd Grove
December 16, 2011

Historical Examples of malleable

From it she judged him malleable now, that had been so stern and unyielding before.
The Trampling of the Lilies
Rafael Sabatini
They were poor things, but they were malleable in his hands.
The Worshippers
Damon Francis Knight
Everything was getting too near the end to be malleable any more.
The Coast of Chance
Esther Chamberlain
Watt was not made of malleable stuff, and, besides, he was tied to his mission.
James Watt
Andrew Carnegie
The creative energy of love demands an indetermined and malleable future.
The Complex Vision
John Cowper Powys

British Dictionary definitions for malleable

malleable

adjective

(esp of metal) able to be worked, hammered, or shaped under pressure or blows without breaking

able to be influenced; pliable or tractable

Derived Formsmalleability or rare malleableness, nounmalleably, adverb

Word Origin for malleable

C14: via Old French from Medieval Latin malleābilis, from Latin malleus hammer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for malleable

adj.

late 14c., "capable of being shaped by hammering," from Middle French malleable and directly from Medieval Latin malleabilis, from malleare "to beat with a hammer," from Latin malleus "hammer" (see mallet). Figurative sense, of persons, "capable of being adapted" first recorded 1610s.

Medicine definitions for malleable