Library / English Dictionary

VULNERABILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Susceptibility to injury or attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("vulnerability" is a kind of...):

weakness (the property of lacking physical or mental strength; liability to failure under pressure or stress or strain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vulnerability"):

defencelessness; defenselessness; unprotectedness (the property of being helpless in the face of attack)

assailability (vulnerability to forceful attack)

destructibility (vulnerability to destruction)

breakability; fragility; frangibility; frangibleness (quality of being easily damaged or destroyed)

exposure (vulnerability to the elements; to the action of heat or cold or wind or rain)

Antonym:

invulnerability (the property of being invulnerable; the property of being incapable of being hurt (physically or emotionally))

Derivation:

vulnerable (susceptible to attack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being vulnerable or exposed

Example:

his exposure to ridicule

Synonyms:

exposure; vulnerability

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("vulnerability" is a kind of...):

danger (the condition of being susceptible to harm or injury)

Derivation:

vulnerable (capable of being wounded or hurt)

vulnerable (susceptible to criticism or persuasion or temptation)

Credits

 Context examples: 

MiRNAs are viable biomarkers of sleep deprivation, psychological stress, and cognitive vulnerability in humans and can be used to identify individuals ahead of time who are in need of countermeasures or interventions such as caffeine or naps to mitigate or prevent impairments associated with insufficient sleep.

(Why Lack of Sleep Affects Some More Than Others, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In other words, remembering more specific positive events reduced their vulnerability to depression over the course of one year.

(Recalling happy memories during adolescence can reduce risk of depression, University of Cambridge)

The point of vulnerability lies in the fact that that solar heated surface water flows into the cavity near a stabilising pinning point, which could be undermined if basal melting intensifies further.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

By determining how these vulnerabilities interact with sociocultural and psychological influences on tobacco use, and by improving the ability to assess risks quantitatively, more effective prevention and cessation interventions can be developed and tailored to those most likely to benefit from them.

(Biobehavioral Determinants of Tobacco Use and Addiction, NCI Thesaurus)

This work suggests that ‘remembering the good times’ may help build resilience to stress and reduce vulnerability to depression in young people.

(Recalling happy memories during adolescence can reduce risk of depression, University of Cambridge)