pliant meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

pliant

adj

/ˈplaɪənt/

Etymology From Middle English pliaunt, from Old French ploiant, present participle of ploiier (“to fold”).

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

1 more example

Whether in its northern or southern home, the black-throated blue warbler builds its nest of bark, roots, and other pliant material, loose and rather bulky, in a variety of saplings, bushes, and weeds, but always a few inches or a few feet from the ground.1917 April, “The Warblers of North America”, in The National Geographic Magazine:

Figuratively Easily influenced; tractable.

I muſt haue wanton Poets, pleaſant wits, Muſitians, that with touching of a ſtring May draw the pliant king which way I pleaſe: […]1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [R. Robinson] for William Iones […], →OCLC, [Act I], signature A3, recto:
[A]nd it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folio 11, recto:

3 more examples

Yet there was pleasant sadness that became Meetly the gentle heart and pliant sense, In that same idlesse—gazing on that brook1839, William Gilmore Simms, “The Brooklet”, in Southern Passages and Pictures, New York: George Adlard, page 2:
[The king] had a pliant prime minister and a general who was telling him what he wanted to hear.1988, A. J. Langguth, Patriots:
The person said one of the reasons the Chinese had been so pliant in development of a joint position on AI governance was that “playing nice” and acting as a “responsible partner” could help foster conversations about relaxation of US trade barriers later down the line.2023 November 4, Madhumita Murgia, Anna Gross, Cristina Criddle, “Summit exposes tensions over AI development despite emollient Chinese tone”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12: