EN

Synonyms for pliant

  • adjective

Most common

flexible supple malleable pliable docile amenable

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Pliable — capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking

pliable, flexible, supple, malleable, bendable, plastic, lithe, weak, ductile, limber, willowy, adaptable, elastic, impressionable, waxy, tensile, sequacious, flexile, impressible, lithesome, tractile, moldable

2. Docile — easily influenced; tractable

docile, amenable, yielding, submissive, tractable, easy, facile, compliant, passive, controllable, manageable, biddable, complaisant, obedient, meek, susceptible

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking.

  2. adj. 2

    Easily influenced; tractable.

Related words

Word family
pliantness

Choose the right word

Pliant, Docile, Tractable or Compliant?

One who is docile is easily taught; one who is tractable is easily led; one who is pliant is easily bent in any direction; compliant represents one as inclined or persuaded to agreement with another's will.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

  • flexible I suggest we adopt flexible tactics for the moment.
  • supple The author's language is vivid, supple and nuanced.
  • malleable The material is also malleable at low temperatures.
  • pliable Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.
  • docile That the sheep be docile is in the wolf's interest.
  • amenable We are generally amenable to requests of this kind.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
pliantrising
flexiblesteady
supplerising
malleablesteady
pliablesteady
docilerising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters
easy2, weak1, meek1, waxy2
5 letters
lithe1
6 letters
supple2, docile2, facile2, limber2
7 letters
plastic2, passive2, elastic3, tensile2, pliable3, ductile2, willowy3, flexile
8 letters
flexible3, yielding2, obedient4, amenable4, bendable, moldable3, biddable3, tractile
9 letters
compliant3, adaptable4, malleable4, tractable3, lithesome
10 letters
manageable4, submissive3, sequacious
11 letters
susceptible4, complaisant3, impressible
12 letters
controllable4
14 letters
impressionable5

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (easy2 = 2 syllables).