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.

© Webster 1913.