pliant

[plahy-uhnt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pliant ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

bending readily; flexible; supple; adaptable: She manipulated the pliant clay.

easily influenced; yielding to others; compliant: He has a pliant nature.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of pliant

1300–50; Middle English < Old French, present participle of plier to ply²; see -ant

SYNONYMS FOR pliant

1, 2. pliable, flexile. See flexible. 2. manageable, tractable, docile.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pliant ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

pli·an·cy, pli·ant·ness, nounpli·ant·ly, adverbnon·pli·an·cy, nounnon·pli·ant, adjective

non·pli·ant·ly, adverbnon·pli·ant·ness, nounun·pli·an·cy, nounun·pli·ant, adjectiveun·pli·ant·ly, adverbun·pli·ant·ness, noun

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

Examples from the Web for pliancy

By the pliancy of their moral code they consecrated the basest means to pious ends.
Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues|John Alberger
Her speech became soliloquy—was it because of a certain want of pliancy in Aunt M'riar?
When Ghost Meets Ghost|William Frend De Morgan
They had a sister; yet it was not her beauty, but the pliancy of her virtue, that recommended her to the king.
Junius Unmasked|Joel Moody
There is a great difference of opinion among anglers as to the amount of pliancy a fly-rod ought to possess.
Red Palmer: A Practical Treatise on Fly Fishing|James Tayler

It is exactly this pliancy, so foreign to your character and habits, which makes me tremble.
The Bee Hunters|Gustave Aimard

British Dictionary definitions for pliancy

pliant

adjective

easily bent; supplea pliant young tree

easily modified; adaptable; flexiblea pliant system

yielding readily to influence; compliant

Derived Formspliancy or pliantness, nounpliantly, adverb

Word Origin for pliant

C14: from Old French, from plier to fold, bend; see ply ²

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 pliancy

pliant

adj.

late 14c., from Old French ploiant "bending, supple; compliant, fickle," as a noun, "turncoat" (13c.), present participle of ploier "to bend" (see ply (n.)). Figurative sense of "easily influenced" is from c.1400. Related: Pliancy.