susceptible
Americanadjective
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admitting or capable of some specified treatment.
susceptible of a high polish; susceptible to various interpretations.
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accessible or especially liable or subject to some influence, mood, agency, etc..
susceptible to colds; susceptible to flattery.
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capable of being affected emotionally; impressionable.
adjective
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(postpositive; foll by of or to) yielding readily (to); capable (of)
hypotheses susceptible of refutation
susceptible to control
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liable to be afflicted (by)
susceptible to colds
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easily impressed emotionally
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of susceptible
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Late Latin susceptibilis, from suscept(us) “taken up” (past participle of suscipere “to take up, support,” from sus- sus- + -cipere, combining form of capere “to take”) + -ibilis -ible
Explanation
If you are susceptible to something such as infections or earaches, it means you are likely to become sick with these things. Have you ever received something you don't want? Well, with susceptible meaning "likely to be influenced or affected by" that is probably going to be the case. If you're susceptible to flattery, and someone wants something from you, all they have to do is give you a compliment or two and you'll do what they want. Material that's susceptible to cracking won't be in good condition for long.
Vocabulary lists containing susceptible
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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1984
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Esperanza Rising
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Susceptible to a similar serendipity, my dad would let an article in a 40-year-old copy of Arizona Highways magazine lead him to a creased page of the Rand McNally road atlas.
From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2022
Susceptible young Tatyana falls for the title character, the visiting friend of her sister’s fiancé, and pours out her burgeoning passion for the imperious aristocrat that very night in a letter.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2020
Susceptible to an array of tropical storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and droughts, Mexico had for years struggled to recover financially from its most crippling events.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2018
Susceptible to random, possibly erroneous but powerful memories out of his past, the professor, now living a comfortable American suburban life, begins to mistake his wife of many years for another woman, “Yen.”
From The New Yorker • Feb. 5, 2017
Susceptible to beauty, he had never seen so beautiful a girl as Constantia Durham.
From The Egoist by Meredith, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
