vulnerability

[ vuhl-ner-uh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

1. openness or susceptibility to attack or harm:

   We need to develop bold policies that will reduce the vulnerability of farmers to drought and floods.

2. willingness to show emotion or to allow one’s weaknesses to be seen or known; willingness to risk being emotionally hurt:

   The foundation for open communication consists of honesty, trust, and vulnerability.

3. the condition of needing supportive or protective social services and community resources because of advanced age, poverty, disability, etc.:

   the vulnerability of disabled senior citizens.

4. Biology, Ecology. likeliness to be classified as an endangered species in the near future unless circumstances improve:

   the vulnerability of the giraffe.

Word History and Origins

Origin of vulnerability¹

First recorded in 1800–10; vulnerable ( def ) + -ity ( def )

Example Sentences

Worryingly, the public may be especially vulnerable to attempts to delegitimize the election, too.

From FiveThirtyEight

The malicious app would have to exploit the vulnerabilities to inject a malicious file into the vulnerable TikTok app.

From TechCrunch

A knee injury to Laporte early in the season left the Cityzens thin at the back, and they looked vulnerable as a result.

From FiveThirtyEight

The TVPRA states that when a child is apprehended at the border, they must be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services and put into the care of people who have specialized training in caring for vulnerable and traumatized children.

From Fortune

The numbers of people who would be rendered vulnerable to this are surely larger than anybody should be prepared to accept.

From Popular-Science

I said that mixture of glamour and vulnerability is potent, especially if you can sense the vulnerability.

From The Daily Beast

But the weight of their hope was their greatest vulnerability.

From The Daily Beast

This sense of vulnerability is, of course, even more acute in micro-states like Jamaica.

From The Daily Beast

Amina Alzouma (“Young Girl”) surprised us all with her disturbingly beautiful displays of vulnerability and intensity.

From The Daily Beast

Spirituality, after all, is not as marketable as sex appeal, so maybe the media-savvy McCarthy is exposing a true vulnerability.

From The Daily Beast

Most particularly I want to learn their points of greatest vulnerability.

From Project Gutenberg

In this one respect of vulnerability to superstition he felt himself immeasurably her superior.

From Project Gutenberg

At a maximum, vulnerability is that of a small battery of guns and wagons limbered up.

From Project Gutenberg

New centers of gravity are being created as are new vulnerability choke points.

From Project Gutenberg

We observe that in the private sector, the vulnerability of information systems is real and is being exploited.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• susceptibility