malleable

[ mal-ee-uh-buhl ]

/ ˈmæl i ə bəl /

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adjective

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

adaptable or tractable: the malleable mind of a child.

Nearby words

mallard, mallarmé, mallcore, malle, malleability, malleable, malleable cast iron, malleable iron, malleablize, malleate, mallee

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 FOR malleable

2 impressionable, moldable, flexible, pliable.

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ANTONYMS FOR malleable

2 refractory, intractable.

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Related forms

mal·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

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
They see gun rights as insecure, malleable, and under constant attack.
Clarify the Second Amendment?|Justin Green|January 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
The creative energy of love demands an indetermined and malleable future.
The Complex Vision|John Cowper Powys
At 150° it is malleable and can be rolled into thin sheets; at higher temperatures it again becomes very brittle.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry|William McPherson
The latter works embrace a small manufactory of malleable iron, and the two together have seven blast furnaces.
Western Worthies|J. Stephen Jeans
It was of malleable iron, and of the form shown in the accompanying figure.
A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine|Robert H. Thurston
This is another of these malleable hallucinations which the patient had daily.
Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology|C. G. Jung

British Dictionary definitions for malleable

malleable

/ (ˈmælɪəbəl) /

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 Forms

malleability 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