pliant

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Bending easily without breaking; flexible.

   Grammar: Used about materials, branches and bodies.

   Patterns

   • pliant material
   • pliant branches

   The basket maker chose pliant willow branches.

   Warm leather is more pliant than cold leather.

   A dancer needs a pliant spine.

2. 2adjectivecomparabledisapproving

   Easy to influence or control, and ready to go along with what others want.

   Grammar: Often critical when applied to people or institutions.

   Patterns

   • pliant to someone's wishes
   • a pliant official

   The pliant committee approved every proposal without question.

   He was too pliant to stand up to his boss.

   Critics called the press pliant and eager to please.

Word forms

Common combinations

pliant branch

She wove a pliant branch into the fence.

pliant leather

The glove was made of soft, pliant leather.

pliant mind

A child's mind is pliant.

pliant majority

The ruler relied on a pliant majority.

remain pliant

The dough should remain pliant when you roll it.

Synonyms and how they differ

flexible

Flexible is the everyday word and is usually positive, whereas pliant for a person often sounds like weakness.

supple

Supple praises the graceful bendiness of skin, leather or a body, and rarely carries a critical tone.

compliant

Compliant describes people who obey rules or requests, and is not used for materials.

malleable

Malleable means able to be shaped by pressure or influence, and is a bit more technical.

Opposites

Word family

pliancy noun

flexibility

pliantly adverb

in a flexible or yielding way

pliable adjective

easily bent or influenced

ply verb

an old related verb meaning to bend or work at

Commonly confused: pliant or compliant? pliant or pliable?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “pliant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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