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Flexible vs Lenient - What's the difference?

flexible | lenient |

As adjectives the difference between flexible and lenient

is that flexible is capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; not stiff or brittle while lenient is lax; tolerant of deviation; permissive; not strict.

As nouns the difference between flexible and lenient

is that flexible is something that is flexible while lenient is a lenitive; an emollient.

flexible

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; not stiff or brittle.
  • When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. -
  • Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
  • Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people. - .
    Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible . -
  • Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a flexible language.
  • This was a principle more flexible to their purpose. -Rogers.

    Synonyms

    * bendsome * ductile * inconstant * manageable * obsequious * pliant * pliable * supple * tractable * wavering

    Derived terms

    * flexibly * flexibleness

    See also

    * foldable

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, engineering, and, manufacturing) Something that is flexible.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=August 19, author=Terry McCrann, title=Win-win deal for the times, work=Herald Sun citation
  • , passage=Alcan is mostly flexibles -- and so it boosts Amcor's flexible packaging business to a globally significant $7 billion one. }}

    References

    * * (flexible) * (flexibility) ----

    lenient

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Lax; tolerant of deviation; permissive; not strict.
  • The standard is fairly lenient , so use your discretion.
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
  • But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master; I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character; to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad.

    Synonyms

    * lax, permissive

    Antonyms

    * strict * severe * stringent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (medicine) A lenitive; an emollient.