adjective
-
easily bent; supple
a pliant young tree
-
easily modified; adaptable; flexible
a pliant system
-
yielding readily to influence; compliant
Synonym Usage
See flexible.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pliant
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old French, present participle of the verb plier ply 2; see -ant
Explanation
The adjective pliant describes something that is capable of being bent. "The teenager showed off her pliant spine every time she draped herself over a piece of furniture. Why hanging upside down off the sofa didn't give her a headache, her mother would never know." Pliant has both a literal and a figurative meaning. Pliant can describe something that is bendable — like a spine, a tree branch, a bendy straw — or it can describe something that is flexible, but less tangible. In this latter sense, pliant describes something that adjusts to conditions or is easily influenced: "In order to survive the recession, the company had to be pliant and adjust to the new economic conditions."
Vocabulary lists containing pliant
Mythology
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"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 2 of the epic poem
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Bless Me, Ultima
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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.
The world premiere by Fugitive Kind is directed by Amanda McRaven, a 2014 Ovation Award-winner for Fugitive’s “The Pliant Girls.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2018
The playwrighting award went to Meghan Brown won for her drama "The Pliant Girls" at the Fugitive Kind Theatre.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2014
Pliant and warm in the play’s opening moments, before the doctor has come, Ms. Oh reveals a fragility in the character’s psyche, expressed in her fluttering terror when those headlights strafe the room.
From New York Times • Jul. 11, 2014
Pliant, springy, relaxed, and barely glancing at the score, he gilded the gingerbread to exactly the right, permissible degree and charmed us all.
From The Guardian • Sep. 4, 2010
Pliant rawhide lassos coiled on saddle horns, gay serapes tied behind each rider, and vicious machetes girded on thigh, these sons of the West were the pride of the Pacific.
From The Little Lady of Lagunitas A Franco-Californian Romance by Savage, Richard
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.
