Dictionary Definition
malleable adj
1 easily influenced [syn: ductile]
2 capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out;
"ductile copper"; "malleable metals such as gold"; "they soaked the
leather to made it pliable"; "pliant molten glass"; "made of highly
tensile steel alloy" [syn: ductile, pliable, pliant, tensile, tractile]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
Middle English malliable, borrowed from late Latin malleābilis, derived from malleāre "to hammer", from malleus "hammer", from Proto-Indo-European *mal-ni- "crushing", an extended variant of *melH₂- "crush, grind".Pronunciation
- US: /ˈmæliəbəl/, /"m
Extensive Definition
- For malleability in cryptography, see malleability (cryptography).
Malleability occurs as a
result of the specific type of bond found in metallic (Main
article: metallic
bond). In metallic bonds, valence
shell electrons are
delocalized and shared between many atoms. This is often referred
to as the "sea of electrons" and is responsible for many properties
of metal. The delocalized
electrons allow metal atoms to slide past one another without
being subjected to strong repulsive forces that would cause other
materials to shatter. Gold is the most
malleable metal, followed by aluminium. Many plastics, and
amorphous
solids such as Play-Doh are also
malleable.
See also
malleable in Arabic: قابلة
للطرق
malleable in Catalan:
Mal·leabilitat
malleable in German:
Verformbarkeit
malleable in Spanish:
Maleabilidad
malleable in Persian:
چکشخواری
malleable in French:
Malléabilité
malleable in Icelandic:
Mótanleiki
malleable in Italian:
Malleabilità
malleable in Malay
(macrolanguage): Kebolehtempaan
malleable in Polish:
Kowalność
malleable in Simple English:
Malleability
malleable in Urdu:
طروقیہ
malleable in Chinese:
延展性
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
able to adapt, accessible, acquiescent, adaptable, adaptive, adjustable, alterable, alterative, amenable, apt, bendable, bending, biddable, bright, changeable, checkered, clever, complaisant, compliant, conformable, convenient, docile, ductile, educable, elastic, ever-changing, extensible, extensile, fabricable, facile, feasible, fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, fluid, foolproof, formable, formative, giving, governable, handy, impermanent, impressible, impressionable, influenceable, instructable, intelligent, kaleidoscopic, like putty,
limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, manageable, maneuverable, many-sided,
metamorphic,
mobile, modifiable, moldable, motivated, movable, mutable, nonuniform, obedient, open, open-minded, other-directed,
permutable, persuadable, persuasible, pervious, plastic, pliable, pliant, practical, protean, proteiform, quick, ready, receptive, resilient, responsive, ripe for
instruction, rubbery,
schoolable, sensitive, sequacious, shapable, springy, suasible, submissive, suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, teachable, thirsty for
knowledge, tractable,
tractile, trainable, transformable, transient, transitory, untroublesome, variable, weak, whippy, wieldable, wieldy, willing, willowy, yielding