What is the difference between adaptable and flexible

The necessary modifications are quick but complex. They are not permanent changes to the weapon. Once a weapon has been adapted for the first time, soldiers would need to make a long term adjustment to the way they transport it.

It is preferable to be more specific when clarity is necessary. In your scenario, adaptable is more specific to the person's willingness to change as flexible might be confused with the physical ability to bend.

The terms adaptable and flexible are two valuable attributes of an effective teacher. Teachers must be flexible to handle unexpected circumstances, such as sudden illness or emergencies. Teachers adapt lesson plans to accommodate for the physical and intellectual needs of each student. I would say that an adaptable system has the capacity be deployed differently in different locations.

A flexible system can react to different stimuli. Adaption happens by adding, removing, replacing or changing something. There are only those 4 options, no more. Well for things that adapt through change only i. The plug was 'flexible' enough to 'adapt' to the shape of the wall socket and all was good.

The plug was not 'flexible' enough, a small peace broke off just enough to 'adapt' the shape of the plug to the shape of the wall socket and all was good.

In programming you'd consider 'adapting' to describe a state change visible to the outside the WHAT and 'flex' to describe the behavior that makes that change happen the HOW.

As such 'adapt' would describe the contract of your interface and 'flex' would be the implementation of that interface. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Asked 9 years, 6 months ago. Active 2 years, 2 months ago. Viewed 31k times. Older workers are less adaptable [ Older workers are less flexible [ Improve this question.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Perhaps I could also have used "large-scale" and "small-scale" as alternative indicators of whether something is "adaptable" or "flexible" respectively. Blessed Geek Blessed Geek 9, 16 16 silver badges 34 34 bronze badges.

Here are two examples: Teachers must be flexible to handle unexpected circumstances, such as sudden illness or emergencies. Bonnie Bonnie 11 1 1 bronze badge. Ian Gibson Ian Gibson 1. Speech vs. Genius vs. Chief vs. Teat vs. Neice vs. Buisness vs. Beeing vs. Amature vs. Lieing vs. Preferred vs. Omage vs. Finally vs. Attendance vs. Latest Comparisons Sweden vs. Assyrian vs.

Followee vs. Tidy vs. Conclusion vs. Alternative vs. Money vs. Beast vs. Days vs. Aztec vs. Quarg vs. Conductor vs.

Insecureness vs. Ethane vs. City vs. Associate vs. Trending Comparisons. Big vs. Mandate vs. Logistician vs. Autocracy vs. Socialism vs.