Supple
adj, name, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To make or become supple. ambitransitive
"The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe"
- 2 make pliant and flexible wordnet
- 3 To make compliant, submissive, or obedient. transitive
"They should supple our stiff wilfulness."
- 1 Pliant, flexible, easy to bend.
"Global supply chains, meanwhile, have grown both tighter and more supple since the late 1990s—the result of improving information technology and of freer trade—making routine work easier to relocate."
- 2 Lithe and agile when moving and bending.
"supple joints"
- 3 Compliant; yielding to the will of others. figuratively
"a supple horse"
- 4 Smooth and drinkable.
- 1 (used of persons' bodies) capable of moving or bending freely wordnet
- 2 (used of e.g. personality traits) readily adaptable wordnet
- 3 gracefully thin and bending and moving with ease wordnet
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"My body is not as supple as it once was."
Etymology
From Middle English souple, from Old French souple, soupple (“soft, lithe, yielding”), from Latin supplic-, supplex (“suppliant, submissive, kneeling”), of uncertain formation. Either from sub + plicō (“bend”) (compare complex), or from sub + plācō (“placate”). More at sub-, placate.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.