Meaning & use
suppleness
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Meanings
noununcountable
The ability of a body or limb to bend and move easily and without stiffness.
Grammar: Never takes a plural: suppleness of the spine.
Patterns
- the suppleness of something
Yoga improves strength and suppleness.
The dancer's suppleness amazed the audience.
He lost much of his suppleness as he grew older.
noununcountable
The quality of a material that is soft and flexible and bends without cracking.
Grammar: Describes leather, fabric and skin.
Patterns
- the suppleness of leather
I love the suppleness of this leather glove.
Oil keeps the suppleness in old saddles.
The fabric's suppleness makes it easy to shape.
noununcountablefigurative
The ability of the mind or a style to adapt easily to new circumstances.
Grammar: Figurative use.
Patterns
- suppleness of mind
Her suppleness of mind helped her master each new job.
The poet's verse has a remarkable suppleness.
Common combinations
- suppleness of the spine
- Swimming helps the suppleness of the spine.
- youthful suppleness
- She kept her youthful suppleness into her sixties.
- retain suppleness
- Regular stretching helps you retain suppleness.
- strength and suppleness
- Ballet demands strength and suppleness.
- suppleness of leather
- Conditioner preserves the suppleness of leather.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flexibility
- Flexibility is the general word, while suppleness suggests smooth, graceful ease.
- agility
- Agility means moving quickly and nimbly, whereas suppleness is about how easily something bends.
- pliability
- Pliability suits materials that can be bent without breaking, while suppleness also suits human bodies.
- elasticity
- Elasticity means springing back to shape after stretching, which suppleness does not require.
Opposites
Word family
- supple adjective
- bending easily and gracefully
- supplely adverb
- in a supple, flexible way (rare)
Commonly confused: suppleness or supplement?
suppleness vs supplement
A supplement is something added to complete or improve something, and it is unrelated to bending.
Practice
Which activity is most likely to improve suppleness?
Choose one answer.
Stretching keeps muscles and joints flexible. Sitting still and skipping meals do the opposite or have no effect, and unwarmed heavy lifting risks stiffness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “suppleness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.