malleable
[mal-ee-uh-buh l]
- capable of being extended or shaped by hammering or by pressure from rollers.
- adaptable or tractable: the malleable mind of a child.
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Origin of malleable
1350–1400; Middle English malliable < Medieval Latin malleābilis, equivalent to malle(āre) to hammer (derivative of Latin malleus hammer) + -ābilis -able
Synonyms
See more synonyms for malleable on Thesaurus.com2. impressionable, moldable, flexible, pliable.
Antonyms
2. refractory, intractable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for malleable
Contemporary Examples
Even adults like to shoehorn their bottoms into a malleable rubber swing and take a ride down memory lane.
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 ClubBrian Spitulnik
December 31, 2013
They see gun rights as insecure, malleable, and under constant attack.
Lapid may be malleable, but Bennett was without question on the hard-right, verging on undemocratic.
Reality, for Gingrich, is a malleable phenomenon—also, these days, a pretty astonishing one.
Historical Examples
From it she judged him malleable now, that had been so stern and unyielding before.
The Trampling of the LiliesRafael Sabatini
They were poor things, but they were malleable in his hands.
The WorshippersDamon Francis Knight
Everything was getting too near the end to be malleable any more.
The Coast of ChanceEsther Chamberlain
Watt was not made of malleable stuff, and, besides, he was tied to his mission.
James WattAndrew Carnegie
The creative energy of love demands an indetermined and malleable future.
The Complex VisionJohn Cowper Powys
malleable
- (esp of metal) able to be worked, hammered, or shaped under pressure or blows without breaking
- able to be influenced; pliable or tractable
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Word Origin
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
malleable
(măl′ē-ə-bəl)- Capable of being shaped or formed, as by hammering or pressure.
- Easily controlled or influenced; tractable.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
malleable
[măl′ē-ə-bəl]
- Capable of great deformation without breaking, when subject to compressive stress. Gold is the most malleable metal. Compare ductile.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.