Meanings
comparative more bendable · superlative most bendable
- 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 Sorts3 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 WorldWhen 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 145The 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 & antonyms
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
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰendʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*bindaną
- Proto-Germanic*bandijaną
- Proto-West Germanic*bandijan
- Old Englishbendan
- Middle Englishbenden
- Englishbend
- Englishbendable
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
bendable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable
“bendable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bendable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bendable.
Source: bendable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.