malleable
adjective
Did you know?
Malleable comes from the Latin verb malleare, meaning "to hammer." Malleare itself comes from the Latin word for "hammer," malleus. If you have guessed that maul and mallet, other English words for specific types of hammers, are related to malleus, you have hit the nail on the head.
Synonyms
- moldable
- plastic
- shapable
- shapeable
- waxy
Example Sentences
Billy Collins, Wall Street Journal, 28–29 June 2008 At each landing the villagers had carved the wonderfully malleable silt into staircases, terraces, crenellations, and ziggurats. Kenneth Brower, National Geographic Traveler, March 2000 The boy seemed to me possessed by a blind, invalid arrogance, and every human being, as his eye flicked over or flinched against them, became, immediately, as malleable as his mother and his father. James Baldwin, The Evidence of Things Not Seen, 1985 the cult leader took advantage of the malleable, compliant personalities of his followers Johnny Loftus, EW.com, 24 Aug. 2022 Dallas has proven very malleable on the boards as a team this season. Xl Media, cleveland, 2 May 2022 This flexible plastic hamper is strong, malleable, and well-ventilated, so wet and sweaty clothes won’t get moldy inside it. Kathleen Willcox, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2022 The researchers say that these structures can be targeted for advanced mechanical and electronic applications, giving us the ability to design materials that are not only ultra-hard but also malleable with tunable electronic properties. David Bressan, Forbes, 19 July 2022 Expectations in fashion, specifically, have become quite malleable in Japan. Lex Byrd, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2022 Yet production and consumption have not been dented, and legal experts feel the sentencing guidelines have become overly malleable. Anchorage Daily News, 27 Dec. 2021 While this year’s festival will feature its share of world and U.S. bows, CEO and co-founder Gregg Schwenk notes that premieres by themselves have become malleable, with special advance screenings and virtual events blurring the lines. Paul Plunkett, Variety, 21 Oct. 2021 Lichen is a perceptive, malleable and mutable organism. Sandra Macgregor, Forbes, 4 May 2022 See More Word History
Middle English malliable, from Medieval Latin malleabilis, from malleare to hammer, from Latin malleus hammer — more at maul
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
malleable
adjective
malleable
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- plastic
- adaptable
- moldable
- shapeable
- waxy
- flexible
- shapable
- pliable
- pliant
- ductile
- yielding
- bendable
- giving
- resilient
- bending
- supple
- bendy
- elastic
- workable
- waxen
- limber
- willowy
- tractable
- flexile
- kneadable
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- rigid
- stiff
- inflexible
- intractable
Synonyms & Similar Words
- adaptable
- adjustable
- flexible
- changing
- pliable
- alterable
- varying
- changeable
- elastic
- versatile
- modifiable
- variable
- fluid
- labile
- unstable
- fluctuating
- inconstant
- unsteady
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- unchangeable
- inflexible
- immutable
- unalterable
- fixed
- inelastic
- invariable
- established
- stable
- unadaptable
- unchanging
- uniform
- nonmalleable
- constant
- set
- unbudgeable
- steady
- ramrod
- unvarying
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of malleable are adaptable, ductile, plastic, pliable, and pliant. While all these words mean "susceptible of being modified in form or nature," malleable applies to what may be pressed or beaten into shape.
The synonyms adaptable and malleable are sometimes interchangeable, but adaptable implies the capability of being easily modified to suit other conditions, needs, or uses.
Although the words ductile and malleable have much in common, ductile applies to what can be drawn out or extended with ease.
The words plastic and malleable can be used in similar contexts, but plastic applies to substances soft enough to be molded yet capable of hardening into the desired fixed form.
While the synonyms pliable and malleable are close in meaning, pliable suggests something easily bent, folded, twisted, or manipulated.
The words pliant and malleable are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, pliant may stress flexibility and sometimes connote springiness.