malleable
UK [ˈmaɫiəbəɫ] · US [ˈmæɫiəbɫ̩] adjective
- adjective Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.
- adjective (figurative) Flexible, liable to change. “My opinion on the subject is malleable.”
- adjective (cryptography, of an algorithm) in which an adversary can alter a ciphertext such that it decrypts to a related plaintext
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle French malléable, borrowed from Late Latin malleābilis, derived from Latin malleāre (“to hammer”), from malleus (“hammer”), from Proto-Indo-European *mal-ni- (“crushing”), an extended variant of *melh₂- (“crush, grind”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers; --applied to metals. Malleable iron, iron that is capable of extension or of being shaped under the hammer; decarbonized cast iron. See under Iron.
Etymology [F. malléable, fr. LL. malleare to hammer. See Malleate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “malleable”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details