different between pliant vs obsequious

English

Etymology

From Middle English pliaunt, from Old French ploiant, present participle of ploiier (“to fold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pla??nt/
• Rhymes: -a??nt

Adjective

pliant (comparative more pliant, superlative most pliant)

1. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking
   • 1917, The National Geographic Magazine April 1917, The Warblers of North America

     Whether in its northern or southern home, the black-throated blue warbler builds its nest of bark, roots, and other pliant material, loose and rather bulky, in a variety of saplings, bushes, and weeds, but always a few inches or a few feet from the ground.

   Synonyms: flexible, pliable, lithe, limber, plastic

2. (figuratively) Easily influenced; tractable.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[1]

     I must haue wanton Poets, pleasant wits,

     Musitians, that with touching of a string

     May draw the pliant king which way I please:

   • 1839, William Gilmore Simms, “The Brooklet” in Southern Passages and Pictures, New York: George Adlard, p. 2,^[2]

     Yet there was pleasant sadness that became

     Meetly the gentle heart and pliant sense,

     In that same idlesse—gazing on that brook

   • 1988, A. J. Langguth, Patriots,

     [The king] had a pliant prime minister and a general who was telling him what he wanted to hear.

Derived terms

• pliantness

Related terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• -platin, Taplin, plaint, platin

French

Verb

pliant

1. present participle of plier

Adjective

pliant (feminine singular pliante, masculine plural pliants, feminine plural pliantes)

1. pliant

   Sa mère a acheté un vélo pliant. - His mother bought a folding bicycle.

Derived terms

• chaise pliante
• lit pliant

Further reading

• “pliant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• pilant, plaint

Romanian

Etymology

From French pliant.

Adjective

pliant m or n (feminine singular pliant?, masculine plural plian?i, feminine and neuter plural pliante)

1. folding

Declension

English

Etymology

From Latin obsequi?sus (“complaisant, obsequious”) , from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (see sequel).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?b?si?kwi.?s/

Adjective

obsequious (comparative more obsequious, superlative most obsequious)

1. (archaic) Obedient; compliant with someone else's orders or wishes.
2. Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.
   • 1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p. 20

     Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.
3. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to obsequies, funereal.

Synonyms

• (obedient): See also Thesaurus:obedient
• (fawning or subservient): fawning, ingratiating, servile, slavish, sycophantic, truckling, smarmy, asskissing ; see also Thesaurus:sycophantic

Derived terms

• obsequiously
• obsequiousness

Related terms

Translations

References