%flexi%

n. 1. The act of bending, or causing to assume a curved form. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A winding about; a turning; a circuity; a fold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Deflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flexibilitas: cf. F. flexibilite. ] The state or quality of being flexible; flexibleness; pliancy; pliability; as, the flexibility of strips of hemlock, hickory, whalebone or metal, or of rays of light. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the flexibility of a veteran courtier. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible. ] 1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering. [ 1913 Webster ]

Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic, ; as, a flexible language. [ 1913 Webster ]

This was a principle more flexible to their purpose. Rogers.

Syn. -- Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile; obsequious; inconstant; wavering.

-- Flex"i*ble*ness, n. -- Flex"i*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexus bent + E. costate. ] (Anat.) Having bent or curved ribs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexilis. ] Flexible; pliant; pliable; easily bent; plastic; tractable. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flexio: cf. F. flexion. ] 1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A bending; a part bent; a fold. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) Syntactical change of form of words, as by declension or conjugation; inflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

Express the syntactical relations by flexion. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Physiol.) The bending of a limb or joint; that motion of a joint which gives the distal member a continually decreasing angle with the axis of the proximal part; -- distinguished from extension. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ short for flexible time. ] A system of scheduling working hours in places of employment, which allows employees to arrive at and leave work at times of their own choice, providing that they work the required number of hours and usually requiring that they be present during certain hours, called core time. Certain workers prefer to arrive early and leave early, and others prefer to arrive late and leave late. Flex time is a way to accommodate such preferences, presumably improving employee morale, and also helps reduce traffic congestion during commmuting times. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. génuflexion, fr. LL. genuflexio, fr. L. genu knee + flexio a bending, fr. flectere, flexum, to bend. See Knee, Flexible. ] The act of bending the knee, particularly in worship or reverence. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. inflexibilité. ] The quality or state of being inflexible, or not capable of being bent or changed; unyielding stiffness; inflexibleness; rigidity; firmness of will or purpose; unbending pertinacity; steadfastness; resoluteness; unchangeableness; obstinacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The inflexibility of mechanism. A. Baxter. [ 1913 Webster ]

That grave inflexibility of soul. Churchill. [ 1913 Webster ]

The purity and inflexibility of their faith. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. inflexiblis: cf. F. inflexible. See In- not, and Flexible. ] 1. Not capable of being bent; stiff; rigid; firm; unyielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Firm in will or purpose; not to be turned, changed, or altered; resolute; determined; unyieding; inexorable; stubborn. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Inflexibleas steel.” Miltom. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man of upright and inflexible temper . . . can overcome all private fear. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Incapable of change; unalterable; immutable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nature of things is inflexible. I. Watts.

Syn. -- -- Unbending; unyielding; rigid; inexorable; pertinacious; obstinate; stubborn; unrelenting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being inflexible; inflexibility; rigidity; firmness. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an inflexible manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Inflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Inflective. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Inflexive endings.” W. E. Jelf. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Inflexible. [ R. ] “Foes inflexive.” Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. réflexibilité. ] The quality or capability of being reflexible; as, the reflexibility of the rays of light. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ CF. F. réflexible. ] Capable of being reflected, or thrown back. [ 1913 Webster ]

The light of the sun consists of rays differently refrangible and reflexible. Cheyne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Reflection. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or condition of being reflected. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. [ Cf. F. réflexif. ] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Implying censure. [ Obs. ] “What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word?” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Re*flex"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*flex"ive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of reflexing; the state of being retroflexed. Cf. Retroversion. [ 1913 Webster ]