supple
Americanadjective
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bending readily without breaking or becoming deformed; pliant; flexible.
a supple bough.
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characterized by ease in bending; limber; lithe.
supple movements.
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characterized by ease, responsiveness, and adaptability in mental action.
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compliant or yielding.
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obsequious; servile.
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
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bending easily without damage
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capable of or showing easy or graceful movement; lithe
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mentally flexible; responding readily
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disposed to agree, sometimes to the point of servility
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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supplesimple
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supplessimple
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have suppledperfect
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has suppledperfect
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am supplingprogressive
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are supplingprogressive
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is supplingprogressive
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have been supplingperfect progressive
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has been supplingperfect progressive
Past
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suppledsimple
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had suppledperfect
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was supplingprogressive
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were supplingprogressive
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had been supplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of supple
1250–1300; (adj.) Middle English souple flexible, compliant < Old French: soft, yielding, lithe < Latin supplic- (stem of supplex ) submissive, suppliant, equivalent to sup- sup- + -plic-, variously explained as akin to plicāre to fold 1, bend (thus meaning “bent over”; cf. complex), or to plācāre to placate 1 (thus meaning “in the attitude of a suppliant”); (v.) Middle English supplen to soften, derivative of the noun (compare Old French asoplir )
Explanation
Something or someone that is supple bends and moves easily, like a contortionist at a circus sideshow. If you can wrap your legs around your neck, you most likely have a supple body. Supple is often used as an adjective describing a body — such as a dancer’s; a fabric — such as soft leather; or a sound — such as an accomplished singer’s voice. This makes for a strange supple family, but all of its members can move with ease and flexibility. More idiomatically, supple can also be used to describe a mind. In this sense, it does not mean “easily brainwashed,” but has a more positive association with the open-mindedness of free-thinkers.
Vocabulary lists containing supple
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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.
See Examples For:
That was all down to Styles' supple and powerful band.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
Under her spell, steel is transformed into supple leather, sagging vinyl, crinkled plastic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Let it bubble gently until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but still supple.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
Last week, one of Italy's top luxury brands, Prada, invited journalists to its Scandicci factory outside Florence, showing the step-by-step transformation of supple leather into luxury handbags.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
People were lined up with their towels, socks, underwear, and any canvas bag that was supple enough to be twisted and tied.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
The aviation giant said their suppler informed them the installation of fittings on the rear of the plane did not follow the standard.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2023
With so much cash waiting to be spent, let’s make sure those resources result in more trained workers, more efficient institutions and able bureaucracies, sharper strategies, increased innovation and suppler supply chains.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2021
Mitchell’s prose is suppler and richer than ever, and his ability to conjure a historical milieu he never actually experienced does not falter.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2020
Further "sharp practices" included retrospective discounts, where firms seek to apply discounts to outstanding money owed to a suppler, late payment and discounts for paying on time, FSB said.
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2014
We rode together to the fair, We danced together on the green; And, faith, they say a suppler pair Was ne’er before a piper seen.
From The Mountainy Singer by MacCathmhaoil, Seosamh
“Energy” seems to operate on wires; it’s taut minimalism, with the supplest layering of sub-bass tones.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2022
It was through dramatic poetry that Plummer discovered his voice, which he developed into one of the supplest instruments of the modern stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2021
Jessica Lange, one of the supplest film actresses of her generation, is the heavy favorite to win her first Tony.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2016
It’s a counterintuitive fact that a player with the supplest shot in the NBA, whose overarching quality is feel, has the hands and work habits of a woodchopper.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2016
Rajesh had once been the most promising of the brothers—the nimblest, the supplest, the most charismatic, the most energetic, the most beloved and idolized by my father and his family.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
They make razors and hair products and have donated a ton of supples to Astor Place Hair, so we’re discussing ways to partner on video profiles.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2021
Backing correctly supples the horse, and adds grace and precision to his natural motions.
From New Method of Horsemanship Including the Breaking and Training of Horses, with Instructions for Obtaining a Good Seat. by Baucher, F.
The great use of longeing is, not that it supples your horse—it is a farce to suppose that—but that, next to leading, it is the easiest act of obedience which you can exact from him.
From Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece or, Common Sense and Common Errors in Common Riding by Greenwood, George
"He supples all and discommends none, except where his commendations might crosse the company, and then he holds his peace,"—after the words "what is civil."
From Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters by Earle, John
In such boyish dreaming the soul learns to do and dare, hardens and supples itself, and puts on youthful beauty; for here is its palaestra.
From Heart of Man by Woodberry, George Edward
The human neurons continued to mature as the mouse brain suppled them with blood vessels.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
Responders weighed the risks versus benefits and decided to give the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine, which is suppled by Merck and stockpiled by the WHO, to children as young as 1 year old.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 13, 2018
Middlesbrough players congratulate Stuani who suppled the cross and turned in for an own goal by Bellusci.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 27, 2015
Arrived at the gymnasium, we stripped; the finger-wrench, the garotte, the standing- grip, each had its votaries; one oiled and suppled his joints; another punched the bladder; a third heaved and swung the dumb-bells.
From Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 02 by Fowler, F. G. (Francis George)
The exertion necessary to execute this lesson is severe if the pupil has not been well suppled before being put on horseback.
From The Barb and the Bridle A Handbook of Equitation for Ladies, and Manual of Instruction in the Science of Riding, from the Preparatory Suppling Exercises by Moustache, Vielle
Dalén invented a neat little device that would, when heated by the sun, pinch off the gas suppling a lighthouse’s beacon.
From Slate ● Dec. 27, 2016
There are vehicles of every size and description booming down the roadway, in and out of the city, like giant human arteries suppling NYC with energy and nutrients.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2016
Louis was always suppling and rubbing the skins to make them soft: they had taken off the hair by sprinkling it with wood ashes, and rolling it up with the hairy side inwards.
From Lost in the Backwoods by Traill, Catharine Parr Strickland
It is here that we will be enabled to appreciate the good effects and the indispensable necessity of suppling the neck and haunches.
From New Method of Horsemanship Including the Breaking and Training of Horses, with Instructions for Obtaining a Good Seat. by Baucher, F.
This exercise should always be done slowly, as its object is the gradual flexing and suppling of the shoulder and elbow joints, and giving mobile action to those of the feet.
From The Barb and the Bridle A Handbook of Equitation for Ladies, and Manual of Instruction in the Science of Riding, from the Preparatory Suppling Exercises by Moustache, Vielle
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.
