Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Open to change; readily changeable or unstable.
- adjective Fluctuating widely.
- adjective Decomposing readily.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In medicine, noting a mode of application of electricity in which the active electrode is passed back and forth over the nerve or muscle to be acted upon: opposed in this sense to
slabile . - Unstable; liable to err, fall, or apostatize.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
- adjective Liable or likely to change.
- adjective (Chem.) Easily decomposed or inactivated when subjected to heat, radiation, or mildly acidic or alkaline conditions; -- of chemical compounds.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Liable to
slip ,err ,fall , orapostatize . - adjective Apt or likely to
change . - adjective chemistry, of a compound or bond Kinetically
unstable ; rapidly cleaved (and possibly reformed).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (chemistry, physics, biology) readily undergoing change or breakdown
- adjective liable to change
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I would, however, dispute the claim that he’s paranoid … and claiming that he’s emotionally labile is quite frankly laughable.
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One is that the internal muscle has become very labile, meaning any little input inside the anus causes it to relax.
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One is that the internal muscle has become very labile, meaning any little input inside the anus causes it to relax.
Gizmodo Rosa Golijan 2010
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Lying on the table, stuck full of needles in a room painted soft peach, with monks softly chanting in the background, my mind wandered to the acupuncturist's use of the word "labile" in our pre-treatment conversation and the realization that labile and labial were not the same word.
The EDM SuperBlog 2009
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Lying on the table, stuck full of needles in a room painted soft peach, with monks softly chanting in the background, my mind wandered to the acupuncturist's use of the word "labile" in our pre-treatment conversation and the realization that labile and labial were not the same word.
The EDM SuperBlog 2009
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Lou said … hey no problems, i'd be pleased to help if i can: o) i spent several years trying to convince my previous diabetic team to let me have one and then gave up, because basically they said I was non compliant (which I wasn't I just had "labile" diabetes I think that used to be called 'brittle') so it was too expensive to basically 'waste' on me.
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Louisa said … hey no problems, i'd be pleased to help if i can: o) i spent several years trying to convince my previous diabetic team to let me have one and then gave up, because basically they said I was non compliant (which I wasn't I just had "labile" diabetes I think that used to be called 'brittle') so it was too expensive to basically 'waste' on me.
Discussion Forum - TuDiabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes 2009
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Or, conversely, how in the world do we believe Boehner, known for expressing a notably labile --unstable display of emotion -- style and behavior?
Dr. Cheryl Pappas: Educating the Peeps: Political Information, Please! Dr. Cheryl Pappas 2011
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Or, conversely, how in the world do we believe Boehner, known for expressing a notably labile --unstable display of emotion -- style and behavior?
Dr. Cheryl Pappas: Educating the Peeps: Political Information, Please! Dr. Cheryl Pappas 2011
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Is truth just a subjective, labile thing that no one can but interpret and never state objectively?
Laila E Hamarinen: Thoughts On Freedom Of Speech in Europe Laila E Hamarinen 2011
sratsrat commented on the word labile
first encountered in Goya, a biography by Robert Hughes, (2008)
February 16, 2008
sparklefarkle commented on the word labile
Ziggy Stardust was labile. "Cha-cha-cha-changes..."
October 3, 2008