pliant

3 definitions found

pliant - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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]

pliant - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  pliant
      adj 1: capable of being influenced or formed; "the plastic minds
             of children"; "a pliant nature" [syn: plastic,
             pliant]
      2: 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, pliant, tensile, tractile]
      3: able to adjust readily to different conditions; "an adaptable
         person"; "a flexible personality"; "an elastic clause in a
         contract" [syn: elastic, flexible, pliable, pliant]
      4: capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking;
         "a flexible wire"; "a pliant young tree" [syn: bendable,
         pliable, pliant, waxy]

pliant - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  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