like a willow in the wind
- idiom
- Informal
:
flexible como un sauce
- Throughout her career, she remained like a willow in the wind, adapting to every challenge that came her way.
Examples
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Leaders must be like a willow in the wind to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
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He faced criticism and adversity like a willow in the wind, never breaking under pressure.
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She handled the criticism like a willow in the wind.
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John adapted to the changes like a willow in the wind.
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In order to succeed in today's environment, businesses must be like a willow in the wind, adjusting their strategies to meet new demands.
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The athlete demonstrated her skills like a willow in the wind, gracefully adapting her technique during the game.
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Teachers need to be like a willow in the wind, flexible in their methods to accommodate different learning styles.
Synonyms
155
3.4
Able to change or be changed to fit different situations
66
5.4
Able to recover quickly after problems or hard times
33
4.9
Able to change to fit new conditions
23
3.4
Able to change to fit new situations
13
4.4
Can survive in difficult conditions like heat or drought
7
3.4
Able to change easily and deal with new situations
Able to change to fit new conditions
Antonyms
How Flexible
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + a + willow + in + the + wind
The simile explicitly signals similarity ('like') and the image of a willow bending in the wind directly evokes flexibility and resilience; a learner who knows 'willow' and 'wind' can infer 'bend without breaking' and thus adaptability. This metaphorical mapping is common across languages and follows clear compositional logic, so the meaning is immediately derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Like a willow in the wind comes from the image of a willow whose long branches bend in the wind instead of snapping. So, to be like a willow in the wind means 'to bend or change without breaking' and to keep going when things are hard.