Pliant: meaning, example and synonyms
Pliantadj. Easily bent or influenced; flexible and yielding.
Example
Craftsmen preferred willow for basket weaving because its pliant branches could be bent into tight curves without splitting.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- flexible, supple, pliable, yielding
- Antonyms
- rigid, stiff, unyielding, inflexible
- Memory tip
- Pliant comes from 'ply', to bend: it bends easily.
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Check yourself: Pliant in context
Young bamboo is ______ enough to bend nearly to the ground in a storm, then spring back upright once the wind subsides.
Answer: pliant. Bending to the ground and springing back means flexible: pliant. Ostentatious (showy), egotistical (self-absorbed) and conjectural (speculative) can't describe a plant's flexibility.
The ambitious minister preferred ______ advisers who would endorse any plan he proposed, and he quietly dismissed those who raised objections.
Answer: pliant. Advisers who endorse any plan are easily influenced: pliant. Conjectural (speculative), vicarious (secondhand) and ostentatious (showy) don't describe yielding to someone's will.