Pliant \Pli"ant\, a. [F. pliant, p. pr. of plier to bend. See
Ply, v.]
1. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or
pressure without breaking; flexible; pliable; lithe;
limber; plastic; as, a pliant thread; pliant wax. Also
used figuratively: Easily influenced for good or evil;
tractable; as, a pliant heart.
[1913 Webster]
The will was then ductile and pliant to right
reason. --South.
[1913 Webster]
2. Favorable to pliancy. [R.] "A pliant hour." --Shak. --
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
pliant
adj 1: capable of being influenced or formed; "the plastic minds of
children"; "a pliant nature" [syn: plastic]
2: able to adjust readily to different conditions; "an
adaptable person"; "a flexible personality"; "an elastic
clause in a contract" [syn: elastic, flexible, pliable]
3: capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking;
"a flexible wire"; "a pliant young tree" [syn: bendable,
pliable]
4: capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out; "ductile
copper"; "malleable metals such as gold"; "they soaked the
leather to made it pliable"; "pliant molten glass"; "made
of highly tensile steel alloy" [syn: ductile, malleable,
pliable, tensile, tractile]
WordNet (r) 2.0
112 Moby Thesaurus words for "pliant":
accessible, acquiescent, adaptable, adaptive, adjustable,
agreeable, alacritous, amenable, ardent, bendable, bending,
biddable, complaisant, compliant, conformable, consenting, content,
convenient, cooperative, disposed, docile, ductile, eager, elastic,
enthusiastic, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, fain,
favorable, favorably disposed, favorably inclined, feasible,
fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, foolproof, formable,
formative, forward, game, giving, handy, impressible,
impressionable, in the mind, in the mood, inclined, influenceable,
like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, malleable,
manageable, maneuverable, minded, moldable, movable, obedient,
open, open-minded, other-directed, persuadable, persuasible,
pervious, plastic, pliable, practical, predisposed, prompt, prone,
quick, ready, ready and willing, receptive, responsive, sensitive,
sequacious, shapable, spongy, springy, suasible, submissive,
suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, tractable, tractile,
unaustere, undemanding, unexacting, unharsh, unsevere, unstrict,
untroublesome, weak, well-disposed, well-inclined, whippy,
wieldable, wieldy, willed, willing, willinghearted, willowy,
yielding, zealous
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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