PLIANT


Meaning of PLIANT in English

-nt adjective

Etymology: Middle English pliaunt, from Middle French pliant, present participle of plier to bend, ply

1. : yielding readily without breaking : bending or folding easily : flexible , workable , lithe

modeled in the pliant material and then … hardened — Nathaniel Hawthorne

a girl … with a slim, pliant figure — Inez Karma & Gilbert Millstein

2. : easily influenced : yielding

sees the … natives as a pliant mass — J.S.Redding

had a pliant congressional majority — A.S.Link

3. : suitable , apt

which I observing, took once a pliant hour — Shakespeare

4. : lending itself to varied uses : adaptable

a pliant style

the clarinet … a very fluent and pliant instrument — Winthrop Sargeant

Synonyms: see plastic

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.