supple

Etymology

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.

adj

1. Pliant, flexible, easy to bend.
   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. 2011-07-25, Don Peck, “Can the Middle Class Be Saved?”, in The Atlantic
2. Lithe and agile when moving and bending.
   supple joints
   supple fingers
3. (figurative) Compliant; yielding to the will of others.
   a supple horse

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become supple.
2. (transitive) To make compliant, submissive, or obedient.
   They should supple our stiff wilfulness. a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of contentment, patience and resignation to the will of God