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View synonyms for pliant

pliant

[ plahy-uhnt ]

adjective

  1. bending readily; flexible; supple; adaptable:

    She manipulated the pliant clay.

    Synonyms: flexile, pliable

  2. easily influenced; yielding to others; compliant:

    He has a pliant nature.

    Synonyms: docile, tractable, manageable, flexile, pliable



pliant

/ ˈplaɪənt /

adjective

  1. easily bent; supple

    a pliant young tree

  2. easily modified; adaptable; flexible

    a pliant system

  3. yielding readily to influence; compliant
“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


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Derived Forms

  • ˈpliantly, adverb
  • ˈpliancy, noun
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Other Words From

  • plian·cy pliant·ness noun
  • pliant·ly adverb
  • non·plian·cy noun
  • non·pliant adjective
  • non·pliant·ly adverb
  • non·pliant·ness noun
  • un·plian·cy noun
  • un·pliant adjective
  • un·pliant·ly adverb
  • un·pliant·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pliant1

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old French, present participle of the verb plier ply 2; -ant
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pliant1

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

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Example Sentences

Expandable foam earplugs are made of pliant material designed to conform to the shape of the ear canal.

The marshmallows were perfectly square and pliant, and its kits even come with moist towelettes—the one thing I wish I had at nearly every s’mores bonfire gathering.

It’s a steely core—the ability to coolly rise above hardship, or to bend in the wind, zen-like and pliant.

From Quartz

These were the slighted impressions on the earth—trace markings made by bare human feet pressing into the pliant mud of ancient lake.

From Time

The IPO was canceled, Neumann was pushed out by his formerly pliant board of directors, and WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, couldn’t even lay off employees because it couldn’t afford severance packages.

The ad reminds readers that there is no income tax in Texas, that the state has budget surpluses and “pliant labor laws.”

Bank bosses who refused were simply replaced with pliant sycophants.

He called that pliant decision the biggest mistake of his presidency.

She did not speak; she moved her fingers caressingly over his hand, thinking how pliant and feminine, how characteristic, it was.

To know how to speak to a king is perhaps the sole art of a prudent and pliant courtier.

Other men might find her pliant, pleasing, seductive; he alone knew her as disinterested.

Not merely tall, but pliant, elastic, and graceful in no ordinary degree.

In every American city with a large pliant foreign vote have appeared the boss, the machine, and the Tammany way.

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pliableplica