Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Readily bent; pliant.
- adj. Moving and bending with agility; limber.
- adj. Yielding or changing readily; compliant or adaptable. See Synonyms at flexible.
- v. To make or become supple.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pliant; flexible; easily bent: as, supple joints; supple fingers.
- Yielding; compliant; not obstinate.
- Capable of adapting one's self to the wishes and opinions of others; bending to the humor of others; obsequious; fawning; also, characterized by such obsequiousness, as words and acts.
- Tending to make pliant or pliable; soothing.
- Synonyms Lithe, limber, lissome.
- To make supple; make pliant; render flexible: as, to supple leather.
- To make compliant, submissive, humble, or yielding.
- Specifically, to train (a saddle-horse) by making him yield with docility to the rein, bending his neck to left or right at the slightest pressure.
- To soothe.
- To become soft and pliant.
Wiktionary
- adj. pliant, easy to bend
- adj. lithe and agile when moving and bending
- adj. flexible and compliant
- v. To make or become supple.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pliant; flexible; easily bent.
- adj. Yielding compliant; not obstinate; submissive to guidance.
- adj. Bending to the humor of others; flattering; fawning; obsequious.
- v. To make soft and pliant; to render flexible.
- v. To make compliant, submissive, or obedient.
- v. To become soft and pliant.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (used of e.g. personality traits) readily adaptable
- adj. (used of persons' bodies) capable of moving or bending freely
- v. make pliant and flexible
- adj. moving and bending with ease
Etymologies
- From Middle English souple, from Old French souple, soupple ("soft, lithe, yielding"), from Latin supplic-, supplex ("suppliant, submissive, kneeling"), of uncertain formation. Either from sub + plicō ("bend") (compare complex), or from sub + plācō ("placate"). More at sub-, placate. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English souple, from Old French, from Latin supplex, suppliant; see plāk-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Like the idea of the Creator, the reasons for their prevalence across the region is rooted in supple yet enduring epistemologies deriving from early Niger-Congo history.”
“If you realize you added too much flour, add some more milk (1 tbsp at a time), until the dough is again supple and easy to handle.”
“These treatments, however, are in short supple due to a significant dearth of democracy resulting from socially and politically entrenched power inequalities and hegemonic ideologies.”
“It is lighter, and fluffier than the purple (Day 3 Store Bought Lotion) bar and leaves the skin supple and soft.”
“Researchers developed a new cosmetic agent to make skin supple, state-run media boasted.”
“Cory Doctorow is building a reputation as a writer who consistently delivers unpredictable stories in supple, evocative prose.”
Boing Boing: September 15, 2002 - September 21, 2002 Archives
“These wigwams were built of branches of trees placed in a circle, which are bound at the top by a kind of creeper called supple-jack.”
“When our settlers landed, there was not a single acre clear of wood in the island, and the trees were so bound together by that kind of creeping shrub called supple jack, interwoven in all directions, as to render it very difficult to penetrate far among them.”
“The goal was to come up with a nanometal that was strong enough, hard enough and "supple" enough to resist fatigue failure and wear in advanced applications.”
“As a physicist, Polkinghorne sees a universe that is "supple" and "subtle" -- a mix of determinism and of freedom -- and this informs his imagination about the nature of God, what happens when we die, and what happens when he prays.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘supple’.
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 125 more...
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Weird Words
Words that sound strange
flesh, moist, supple, ample, flab, tardy, fork, umber, glasses, paper, mellifluous
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vijaimanikandan's list
Vocabulary
mass murder, superhero, bubbly, narcotics, murder, supple, neolithic, howard hughes, deus ex machina, island, mystery, suspense and 29 more...
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wl1
occult, necromancy, diabolism, conjure, metaphoric, metaphor, sorcerer, legerdemain, talisman, amulet, necrophobia, deftness and 135 more...
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MyList
peter out, fraying, jump on the bandw..., indignation, eclectic, hung up, salutary, hoary, warped, glaring, blue-collar, concomitant and 105 more...
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Lillyjames's Words
uncategorized words that I enjoy
replete, unabashed, dauntless, ubiquitous, fanged, blush, flush, murmur, mercurial, dishevelled, decrepit, raven and 146 more...
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Words To Use In Creative Writing
hag-ridden, light-heeled, wendigo, longshanks, fatuous, insipid, sodden, bulging, sycophantic, uncourtly, gauche, assuasive and 174 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3027 more... -
Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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The Iliad
Selection from Homer's, The Iliad. Written 800BCE. Samuel Butler translation.
countless ills, pestilence, Olympus, spoke fiercely, in reverence, with his bow and ..., in their death-th..., loved of heaven, plague, wisest of augurs, black with rage, his eyes flashed ... and 102 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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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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just words.
coquette, solecism, peripherally, recrudescence, viscid, turpitude, sententious, light-heeled, interminably, unflappable, palpably, solicitous and 215 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for supple.
lyuds jello: firm yet supple Aug 29, 2008