Pliant

3 definitions found

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

  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. --
        {Pli"ant*ly}, adv. -- {Pli"ant*ness}, n.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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