adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonpliable adjective
- nonpliably adverb
- pliability noun
- pliableness noun
- pliably adverb
- unpliable adjective
- unpliably adverb
Etymology
Origin of pliable
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from French, equivalent to pli(er) “to fold, bend” ( ply 2 ) + -able -able
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.
That pliable framework creates uncertainty that chills classroom discourse.
Humans are suggestible creatures with extremely pliable memories.
From Los Angeles Times
The sculpture’s curved, draping form looks both stiff and pliable, cartoonish and menacing.
This paradox raised a fundamental question: how can the planet's solid center appear firm yet strangely pliable?
From Science Daily
If you can square those actions with Hernández’s pardon and not throw your back out in the process you’re either more pliable than most or willfully obtuse.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
