bendable

B3E1N1D2A1B3L1E1
/ˈbɛndəbəl/

adjective

Able to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking.

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 13

Meanings

adjectivebendable (comparative more bendable, superlative most bendable)

comparative more bendable · superlative most bendable

  1. Able to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking.

    The father scorned stooping. Neither his body nor his mind was bendable.

    1944, Emily Carr, “Snow”, in The House of All Sorts
    3 more examples

    It was quite a shock to find when one stroked her that the China Cat, though alive, was still china, hard, cold, and smooth to the touch, and yet perfectly brisk and absolutely bendable as any flesh and blood cat.

    1912, E. Nesbit, chapter 6, in The Magic World

    When necessity dictates, our laws are as bendable as licorice to our presidents, and if their private conversations had been taped an awful lot of history would be different now.

    1974, Arthur Miller, “The Limited Hang-Out: The Dialogues of Richard Nixon as a Drama of the Antihero”, in Steven R. Centola, editor, Echoes Down the Corridor, Viking, published 2000, page 145

    The tough, bendable fabric combines hydrogels — such as those found in contact lenses or jello – with glass fibers. This particular combination maximizes its resilience, making the material 100 times tougher than hydrogels and 25 times tougher than glass fiber fabric, based on the amount of energy needed to destroy it.

    2017 July 16, Jenny Marc, Katy Scott, “Revolutionary gel is five times stronger than steel”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2025

    Synonyms: flexible, pliable, pliant

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveAble to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking.

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivecapable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰendʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*bindaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*bandijaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*bandijan
  5. Old Englishbendan
  6. Middle Englishbenden
  7. Englishbend
  8. Englishbendable

From bend + -able.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch buigbaar
  • buigbaarable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Finnish taipuisa, taipuva
  • taipuisaable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
  • taipuvaable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Hungarian hajlítható
  • hajlíthatóable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Icelandic beygjanlegur
  • beygjanlegurable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Portuguese dobrável
  • dobrávelable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Russian сгибаемый
  • сгибаемый (sgibajemyj)able to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Spanish articulable, flexible
  • articulableable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
  • flexibleable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Swedish böjbar
  • böjbarable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Vietnamese co the uon cong
  • co the uon congable to be bent or flexed or twisted without breaking
Cite this entry
APA

bendable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable

MLA

“bendable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bendable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable.

Source: bendable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.