Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Easily bent or flexed; pliable. See Synonyms at malleable.
- adj. Easily altered or modified to fit conditions; adaptable.
- adj. Yielding readily to influence or domination; compliant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Capable of being easily bent; flexible; supple; limber; lithe: as, a pliant twig.
- Easily bent or inclined to any particular course; readily influenced for good or evil; easy to be persuaded; yielding.
Wiktionary
- adj. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking; flexible; pliable; lithe; limber; plastic; as, a pliant thread; pliant wax.
- adj. figuratively Easily influenced for good or evil; tractable; as, a pliant heart.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking; flexible; pliable; lithe; limber; plastic. Also used figuratively: Easily influenced for good or evil; tractable.
- adj. rare Favorable to pliancy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. able to adjust readily to different conditions
- adj. capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
- adj. capable of being influenced or formed
- adj. capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out
Etymologies
- From Old French pliant. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, present participle of plier, to fold, bend, from Latin plicāre; see plek- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Mann congratulated himself on having articulated the notion of pliant time in an early draft of his great novel, even before Einstein expanded the theory in 1916.”
“Its road show, he says, was pitched to believers, and the media in China is largely pliant, meaning the company has rarely faced tough questions.”
“We do not know what the word here translated "pliant" [Greek: streptos] means, and”
“He got the name of a "pliant" doctor and now has a medical card.”
“Combined with what the late Ernest Mandel called "extra-economic" factors (such as pliant labor leadership and peaceful trade unionism, establishment of the Bretton Woods international monetary system, Cold War ideology and the suppression or pacification of any possible dissent, and relative decline in the price of oil and other raw materials in the immediate post-WW II period), the New Deal and other government-sponsored reforms ushered in a period of rapid economic expansion that came to be known as the "golden years of US capitalism," which lasted until around 1970.”
“The rhythms of organist/guitarist Sean Antanaitis and drummer David Bergander are more pliant the third time around, giving plenty of room for frontwoman Katrina Ford to soar, coo and growl with equal aplomb.”
“Jay Hunter Morris, who took over the punishing title role just a week before the premiere, has a bright, pliant tenor—not large, but ringing and energetic.”
“It's the duo's astute absorption of the '80s' pliant synth-pop and its attendants electro, boogie, R & B, as well as an ability to keep the reverence fun, that carries them well beyond the joke.”
“Cairo is a linchpin of the so-called moderate Arab axis allied with Washington against the region's less-pliant regimes, including Iran and its proxies.”
“Sadly, over a century later, the blood-soaked gains made by America's labor movement are being relentlessly eroded by stealthy corporations and pliant politicians.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pliant’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Verbal_Advantage
paraphrase, ostensible, digress, uncanny, candor, morose, adept, saturated, pragmatic, congenial, capricious, blatant and 38 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
vanish, number one, archangel, commodious, dominie, rubble, glisten, morose, spindle, ventilation, Blessed, christian and 503 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 94 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
single-minded, self-seeking, vain, territorial, stubborn, self-possessed, unwary, self-important, rigid, relentless, resolute, purposeful and 189 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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Words beginning with P
peripatetic, pearlescent, perfunctory, palliate, permafrost, prosthetic, pliant, pluvious, percussion, procrastinate, progeria, prognathism and 49 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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GRE
anomaly, assuage, enigma, equivocal, erudite, fervid, placate, lucid, opaque, precipitate, prodigal, zeal and 113 more...
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Nabokov vocabulary
verisimilitude, geminate, pedantic, intervestibular, equilibrist, nictitating, anastomosis, quiddity, torus, cacahuete, undulation, pensum and 135 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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artoparts's Words
illation, finite, edify, abide, abrade, vouch, amiss, vociferate, perusing, techantiquery, rigamarole, holon and 615 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL P
pacifistic, pacify, palatable, palaver, palliate, pallid, palpable, pamper, panacea, pandemic, pandemonium, panegyric and 209 more...
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