Flexibleness

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Flexible \Flex"i*ble\, a. [L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible.]
     1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being
        turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable;
        yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              When the splitting wind
              Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. --Shak.
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     2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not
        invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable;
        ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
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              Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways
              flexible to the will of the people.   --Bacon.
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              Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. --Shak.
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     3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a
        flexible language.
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              This was a principle more flexible to their purpose.
                                                    --Rogers.
  
     Syn: Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile;
          obsequious; inconstant; wavering. -- {Flex"i*ble*ness},
          n. -- {Flex"i*bly}, adv.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  flexibleness
       n : the property of being flexible [syn: {flexibility}] [ant: {inflexibility}]