Hypertext Webster Gateway: "flexible"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Flexible \Flex"i*ble\, a. [L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible.]
1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being
turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable;
yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle.
When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of
knotted oaks. --Shak.
2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not
invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable;
ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways
flexible to the will of the people. --Bacon.
Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. --Shak.
3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a
flexible language.
This was a principle more flexible to their purpose.
--Rogers.
Syn: Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile;
obsequious; inconstant; wavering. -- {Flex"i*ble*ness},
n. -- {Flex"i*bly}, adv.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
flexible
adj 1: extended meanings; capable of change; "a flexible
character"; "flexible schedules" [ant: {inflexible}]
2: able to flex; able to bend easily; "slim flexible birches"
[syn: {flexile}] [ant: {inflexible}]
3: able to adjust readily to different conditions; "an
adaptable person"; "a flexible personality"; "an elastic
clause in a contract" [syn: {elastic}, {pliable}, {pliant}]
4: bends and snaps back readily without breaking
5: making or willing to make concessions; "loneliness tore
through him...whenever he thought of...even the
compromising Louis du Tillet" [syn: {compromising}, {conciliatory}]
[ant: {uncompromising}]
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