pliantlyadv.
/ˈplʌɪəntli/, U.S. /ˈplaɪən(t)li/ In a pliant manner; accommodatingly, flexibly, submissively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > bodily movement > [adverb] > with elasticity
supplely1611
springingly1668
pliantly1673
limberly1891
the world > action or operation > easiness > [adverb] > without difficulty or delay
lightlyOE
skeetc1175
readya1325
areadilya1375
redelya1375
readilyc1390
goodlyc1405
willingly1577
slightly1594
pliantly1673
1673 J. Dryden Assignation i. i. 1 You bow so pliantly.
1708 E. Arwaker Truth in Fiction i. vii. 10 While pliantly I bend to ev'ry side, I all the Rage of fiercest Storms deride.
1749 P. Francis tr. Horace Wks. II. 279 Now pliantly inure Your Mind to Virtue, while your Heart is pure.
1845 J. H. Ingraham Knights of Seven Lands i. 6 He was clad in a suit of russet link armor, that yielded to his body as pliantly as the velvet surcoat he wore above it.
1862 E. Bulwer-Lytton Strange Story II. xxi. 152 Whether it was that..my mind could more pliantly supple itself to her graceful imagination.
1913 ‘M. Field’ Mystic Trees 33 One [hand] bindeth tight The Cup, one breaketh for all the Bread. How pliantly they work.
1975 E. W. Herbert & C.-A. Lopez Private Franklin 74 In her music she could be more than pliantly dutiful, satisfactorily domestic: She could meet her father as a peer.
2003 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 13 July (Final ed.) d4 Statewide officeholders pliantly pledged not to run for governor if there is a recall election.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1673