Malleable: meaning, example and synonyms
Malleableadj. Easily shaped or influenced; adaptable.
Example
Because young children's accents remain malleable, linguists find that the youngest members of relocated families often adopt the local speech within months.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- pliable, adaptable, impressionable, flexible
- Antonyms
- rigid, inflexible, intractable, obstinate
- Memory tip
- Think mallet: metal you can hammer into shape is malleable.
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Check yourself: Malleable in context
Gold is so ______ that a single gram can be hammered into a sheet thin enough to let light pass through.
Answer: malleable. A metal that can be hammered very thin is malleable. Circumspect (cautious), provocative (inflammatory) and cerebral (intellectual) describe people or ideas, not metals.
Researchers have shown that memory is surprisingly ______: details suggested after an event can reshape what witnesses later recall.
Answer: malleable. Memory that can be reshaped by later suggestions is malleable. Pristine (untouched) is the opposite; circumspect (cautious) and felicitous (apt) don't mean reshapeable.