malleable

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: mal=le=a=ble

CIDE DICTIONARY

malleable, a. [F. malléable, fr. LL. malleare to hammer. See Malleate.].

•  Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; -- applied to metals.  [1913 Webster]
•  Capable of being influenced to behave as desired; tractable; -- used mostly of children.  [PJC]

Malleable iron, iron that is capable of extension or of being shaped under the hammer; decarbonized cast iron. See under Iron. -- Malleable iron castings, articles cast from pig iron and made malleable by heating then for several days in the presence of some substance, as hematite, which deprives the cast iron of some of its carbon.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

malleable, adj.
1 (of metal etc.) able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking.
2 adaptable; pliable, flexible.

Derivative

malleability n. malleably adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. med.L malleabilis f. L malleare to hammer f. malleus hammer

THESAURUS

malleable

able to adapt, accessible, acquiescent, adaptable, adaptive, adjustable, alterable, alterative, amenable, apt, bendable, bending, biddable, bright, changeable, checkered, clever, complaisant, compliant, conformable, convenient, docile, ductile, educable, elastic, ever-changing, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, feasible, fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, fluid, foolproof, formable, formative, giving, governable, handy, impermanent, impressible, impressionable, influenceable, instructable, intelligent, kaleidoscopic, like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, manageable, maneuverable, many-sided, metamorphic, mobile, modifiable, moldable, motivated, movable, mutable, nonuniform, obedient, open, open-minded, other-directed, permutable, persuadable, persuasible, pervious, plastic, pliable, pliant, practical, protean, proteiform, quick, ready, receptive, resilient, responsive, ripe for instruction, rubbery, schoolable, sensitive, sequacious, shapable, springy, suasible, submissive, suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, teachable, thirsty for knowledge, tractable, tractile, trainable, transformable, transient, transitory, untroublesome, variable, weak, whippy, wieldable, wieldy, willing, willowy, yielding

ROGET THESAURUS

malleable

Softness

N softness, pliableness, flexibility, pliancy, pliability, sequacity, malleability, ductility, tractility, extendibility, extensibility, plasticity, inelasticity, flaccidity, laxity, penetrability, clay, wax, butter, dough, pudding, alumina, argil, cushion, pillow, feather bed, down, padding, wadding, foam, mollification, softening, soft, tender, supple, pliant, pliable, flexible, flexile, lithe, lithesome, lissom, limber, plastic, ductile, tractile, tractable, malleable, extensile, sequacious, inelastic, aluminous, remollient, yielding, flabby, limp, flimsy, doughy, spongy, penetrable, foamy, cushiony, flaccid, flocculent, downy, edematous, oedematous, medullary, argillaceous, mellow, soft as butter, soft as down, soft as silk, yielding as wax, tender as chicken.