malleable Hear it!

malleable Definition

mal·le·able (malē ə bəl)

adjective

  1. that can be hammered, pounded, or pressed into various shapes without breaking: said of metals
  2. capable of being changed, molded, trained, etc.; adaptable

Etymology: ME malliable < ML malleabilis < L malleare, to beat with a hammer < malleus, a hammer < IE base *mel-, to grind, beat > mill

malleable Related Forms
mal′·le·abil·ity noun or mal·le·able·ness
malleable Synonyms

malleable

modif.

pliant, tractable, plastic, moldable; see flexible 1, pliable 1, 2. See syn. study at pliable.

malleable Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: Sooth, generally for women, A man might strive to make glass malleable, Ere he should make them fixed.

Modifies a noun

  • iron: The bloom was a spongy mass of malleable iron whose cracks were filled with slag.
  • metal: Uranium A white malleable metal which is softer than steel.
  • material: Paper can be reduced to a fine liquid medium or a solid malleable material with sculptural possibilities.
  • block: This wire is reeved through a malleable cast-iron block situated at the head of the mast about 12 feet from the truck.
  • nature: Given the malleable nature of Time, I'd even reccommend this to someone who'd never heard of the Hitchhikers Guide before.
  • quality: Bridget formed many of the smaller sculptures in her hand due to the fluid, tactile and malleable qualities of the material.

Modifying Another Word

  • infinitely: First of all, because they were a great toy, an infinitely malleable artistic medium of creation.
  • very: Unlike ionic solids, metals are very malleable, they can be readily bent, pressed or hammered into shape.
  • so: But as software is so malleable, we are usually faced with problems that very little of the basis is known.
  • highly: Similarly, alternative media is a highly malleable label.
  • logically: My position, on the contrary, is that computers are logically malleable.
  • easily: I am not someone whose convictions are easily malleable.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: Dwelling in a womb of blood and brimstone, my days became malleable, my nights infinite.
  • prove: The French however are likely to prove less malleable than we were.
malleable Quotes

Our fathers have, in process of centuries, provided this realm, its colonies and wide dependencies, with a speech as malleable and pliant as Attic, dignified as Latin, masculine, yet free of Teutonic guttural, capable of being precise as French, dulcet as Italian, sonorous as Spanish, and captaining all these excellences to its service.

—Quiller-Couch, SirArthurThomas known as  'Q'

Browse dictionary entries near malleable

  1. Mallarmé
  2. mallard
  3. mall rat
  4. mall
  5. malkin
  6. malison
  7. Malinowski
  8. Malinke
  9. malinger
  10. malines
  1. malleable iron
  2. mallee
  3. mallemuck
  4. malleolus
  5. mallet
  6. malleus
  7. malling
  8. Mallorca
  9. mallow
  10. mallow rose