suppleness

UK: /ˈsʌp^əlnɪs/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sup•ple /ˈsʌpəl/   adj., -pler, -plest. 

1. bending easily without breaking; flexible:
   supple tubing.
2. showing ease in bending;
   limber, lithe, or graceful:
   supple movements.
3. easily able to adapt, as in one's thinking or reactions to events:
   Her supple nature enables her to accept change.

sup•ple•ness, n. [uncountable]
sup•ply /ˈsʌpli/  adv. See -plic-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sup•ple  (sup′əl), adj., -pler, -plest, v., -pled, -pling. 
adj. 

1. bending readily without breaking or becoming deformed;
   pliant;
   flexible:
   a supple bough.
2. characterized by ease in bending;
   limber;
   lithe:
   supple movements.
3. characterized by ease, responsiveness, and adaptability in mental action.
4. compliant or yielding.
5. obsequious;
   servile.

v.t., v.i. 

6. to make or become supple.

• Latin supplic- (stem of supplex) submissive, suppliant, equivalent. to sup- sup- + -plic-, variously explained as akin to plicāre to fold¹, bend (thus meaning "bent over''; compare complex), or to plācāre to placate (thus meaning "in the attitude of a suppliant''); (verb, verbal) Middle English supplen to soften, derivative of the noun, nominal (compare Old French asoplir)
• Old French: soft, yielding, lithe
• (adjective, adjectival) Middle English souple flexible, compliant 1250–1300

sup′ple•ness, n.