Flexible
['fleksɪb(ə)l] or ['flɛksəbl]
Definition
(adj.) bending and snapping back readily without breaking .
(adj.) able to flex; able to bend easily; 'slim flexible birches' .
(adj.) capable of being changed; 'flexible schedules' .
Edited by Augustus--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle.
(a.) Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
(a.) Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a flexible language.
Editor: Sweeney
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Pliable, pliant, limber, flexible, lithe, supple, not stiff, not rigid, easily bent.
Inputed by Edgar
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Pliant, lithe, supple, elastic, easy, indulgent, ductile, flexile, yielding,pliable
ANT:Tough, rigid, inelastic, inflexible, hard, inexorable
Checked by Carmen
Definition
adj. easily bent: pliant: docile.—v.t. Flex to bend or make a flexure of.—adjs. Flexan′imous influencing the mind; Flexed bent.—ns. Flex′ibleness Flexibil′ity pliancy: easiness to be persuaded.—adv. Flex′ibly.—ns. Flex′ion Flec′tion a bend: a fold: the action of a flexor muscle; Flex′or a muscle which bends a joint as opposed to Extensor.—adjs. Flex′ūous Flex′ūose of windings and turnings: variable.—n. Flex′ūre a bend or turning: (math.) the curving of a line or surface: the bending of loaded beams: (Shak.) obsequious bowing.
Editor: Madge
Examples
- For the latter something less flexible than rope is needed. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The telephone receiver was held on the head with a spring, the flexible connecting wire being attached to the lap board, thus leaving the operator with both hands free. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Then 800 pulses of air will reach the ear each second, and the ear drum, being flexible, will respond and will vibrate at the same rate. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- So at last he was given again, warm and flexible. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It parts with its flexible responsiveness and alert eagerness for additional meaning. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- A maximum reading can then be made by manipulating the flexible connections, and this will show whether the two circuits are in accord. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- This is done by means of a flexible tube, through which air is forced into the bell. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- But intellectual tools are indefinitely more flexible in their range of adaptation than other mechanical tools. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The mouthpiece A had adjacent to the cylinder a flexible diaphragm carrying a little point or stylus which bore against the tin foil on the cylinder. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- It is everlastingly difficult to keep the mind flexible and alert. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He felt his limbs growing fuller and flexible with life, his body gained an unknown strength. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This means a wider and more flexible observation of means. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Our primary care must be to keep the habits of the mind flexible and adapted to the movement of real life. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- An aim must, then, be flexible; it must be capable of alteration to meet circumstances. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- They arise from the palate, and are attached by flexible membrane to the sides of the mandible. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- We should remember that the skull at this early age is cartilaginous and flexible, so that it readily yields to muscular action. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The methods of securing representation are unfit instruments for any flexible use. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Woodrow Wilson brought to public life an exceedingly flexible mind,--many of us when he first emerged rejoiced at the clean and athletic quality of his thinking. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Successful singing is possible only when the vocal cords are readily flexible and when the singer can supply a steady, continuous blast of air through the slit between the cords. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Air is supplied by means of a flexible tube which enters the helmet and communicates with an air pump above. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- All the ancient civilized peoples used ropes and cordage, made from such flexible materials as their countries afforded. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- To allow of the escape of the used air there is sometimes another flexible tube, which is led from the back part of the helmet to the surface of the water. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Air is supplied through a flexible tube by a compression pump. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- His mind is lucid and flexible, and he has the faculty of taking advice quickly, of stating something he has borrowed with more ease and subtlety than the specialist from whom he got it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- This made practicable the present flexible, transparent film with its attendant convenience and dependability. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- None of these massed infantry formations was flexible enough to stand a flank or rear attack. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The sight of such a flexible bend as that on grim Egdon was quite an apparition. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- For this is what general means; broad and flexible. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- These shapes have no angles: a caryatid in marble is almost as flexible; a Phidian goddess is not more perfect in a certain still and stately sort. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He nailed the piece of gum outside the kitchen door in the intense cold, and upon examining it the next morning found it as perfectly flexible as when he put it out. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Editor: Madge