Literary notes about Pliant (AI summary)
The term "pliant" is employed in literature to capture a sense of flexibility that spans both the physical and metaphorical realms. Authors describe physical pliancy in materials such as willow branches or pliant soils, evoking images of supple, yielding textures and graceful motion ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, the word is used to characterize human temperaments and dispositions—revealing a quality of adaptability or, in some cases, a tendency toward submissiveness or malleability in character ([4], [5], [6]). This dual use underlines the richness of the term as it conveys both the literal flexibility of objects and a figurative pliability in behavior or sentiment ([7], [8]).
- Then they spent the whole night in weaving a net with the pliant willow and rushes.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - The ground seemed quite soft and pliant; owing perhaps [98] to its having been so recently turned.
— from Johnny Ludlow, Sixth Series by Wood, Henry, Mrs. - The floor is strewn with the pliant branches of the Arctic willow.
— from From Paris to New York by Land by Harry De Windt - But Moray knew the pliant and forgiving nature of her with whom he had to deal.
— from The Queen's Maries: A Romance of Holyrood by G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville - In a strange and new sense, I grew most selfish, and quite powerless to deny myself the delight of indulging his mood, and being pliant to his will.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - How pliant is this Mephistophilis, Full of obedience and humility!
— from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - It was a pliant and liberal expression of ideals, inwardly grounded and spontaneously pursued.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - What could a man require more from a nation so pliant and so prone to seek after knowledge?
— from Areopagitica by John Milton
