Supple Meaning
/ˈsʌpəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjPliant, flexible, easy to bend.
adjLithe and agile when moving and bending.
Sentence Examples
My body is not as supple as it once was.
She claimed that yoga could make anyone's body supple.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dancer's ____ body allowed her to bend and twist into very difficult positions.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The leather of the new boots was very ____ and soft, making them very comfortable to wear for long walks.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2011 July 25, Don Peck, “Can the Middle Class Be Saved?”, in The Atlantic:
"My hands are supple and small. A woman in a bread shop once said to me: “You have the hands for making fine little pastries.”"
— 1918 February (date written), Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Je ne parle pas français”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 82–83:
"If punishment […] makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender."
— 1693, [John Locke], “§78”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
"The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe"
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33:
"The Stones (a Miracle to Mortal View, / But long Tradition makes it paſs for true) / Did firſt the Rigour of their Kind expel, / And ſuppled into ſoftneſs, as they fell; […]"
— 1717, John Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 18:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dancer's ____ body allowed her to bend and twist into very difficult positions.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The leather of the new boots was very ____ and soft, making them very comfortable to wear for long walks.