vulnerable

adj
/ˈvʌln(ə)ɹəbl̩/

Etymology

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

  1. derived from vulnerō
  2. borrowed from vulnerābilis

Definitions

  1. More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either…

    More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.

    • The elimination of [Roger] Federer after [Rafael] Nadal's loss to Lukas Rosol would have created mild panic among the fans of these gloriously gifted but now clearly vulnerable geniuses.
  2. More likely to be exposed to malicious programs or viruses.

    • a vulnerable PC with no antivirus software
  3. at moderate risk of extinction though not quite endangered.

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at vulnerable. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01vulnerable02extinction03radiation04energy05distance06modifying07altering08alteration09altered10exposed

A definitional loop anchored at vulnerable. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at vulnerable

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA