vulnerable

From Late Latin vulnerābilis (“injurious, wounding”), from Latin vulnerō (“I wound”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvʌln(ə)ɹəbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (proscribed) IPA^(key): /ˈvʌn(ə)ɹəbl̩/
• Hyphenation: vul‧ner‧a‧ble

vulnerable (comparative more vulnerable, superlative most vulnerable)

1. More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.
   • 1925, F Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 1, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’

   • 2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian‎, archived from the original on 15 November 2016:

     The elimination of Federer after Nadal's loss to Lukas Rosol would have created mild panic among the fans of these gloriously gifted but now clearly vulnerable geniuses.

   • 2013 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

     One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools […] as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

   You are vulnerable to be bullied by someone at school.

   1. Open to disclosing one's inner thoughts and feelings, acting in spite of one's instinct to self-preservation.

      It's okay to get vulnerable every now and again.

2. (computing) More likely to be exposed to malicious programs or viruses.

   a vulnerable PC with no antivirus software

3. (of a language or species) at moderate risk of extinction though not quite endangered.

   Welsh is merely a vulnerable language, but Irish and Scottish Gaelic are definitely endangered.

• (exposed to attack): defenceless, helpless, powerless, unguarded, unprotected, weak, woundable

• (antonym(s) of “exposed to attack”): durable, indomitable, invincible, invulnerable, powerful, strong

• vulnerability
• vulnerably

From Late Latin vulnerābilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencia)

vulnerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural vulnerables)

1. vulnerable

   Antonym: invulnerable

• vulnerabilitat
• vulnerar

• “vulnerable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• vulnerábel

From Late Latin vulnerābilis, from Latin vulnerō (“I wound”).

vulnerable m or f (plural vulnerables)

1. vulnerable

• vulnerabilidade
• vulnerar

• “vulnerable”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

Borrowed from Late Latin vulnerābilis, from Latin vulnerō (“to wound”).

• IPA^(key): /bulneˈɾable/
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: vul‧ne‧ra‧ble

vulnerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural vulnerables)

1. vulnerable

• “vulnerable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10