vulnerability
Americannoun
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openness or susceptibility to attack or harm.
We need to develop bold policies that will reduce the vulnerability of farmers to drought and floods.
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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.
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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.
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Biology, likeliness to be classified as an endangered species in the near future unless circumstances improve.
the vulnerability of the giraffe.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vulnerability
First recorded in 1800–10; vulnerable ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )
Explanation
Vulnerability is the quality of being easily hurt or attacked. Some seniors think it's funny to pick on the ninth graders because of their vulnerability. Vulnerability comes from the Latin word for "wound," vulnus. Vulnerability is the state of being open to injury, or appearing as if you are. It might be emotional, like admitting that you're in love with someone who might only like you as a friend, or it can be literal, like the vulnerability of a soccer goal that's unprotected by any defensive players.
Vocabulary lists containing vulnerability
Tuesdays with Morrie
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The Bluest Eye
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Sula
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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.
Recognizing that human engineers cannot patch at machine speed, Visa developed the Visa Vulnerability Agentic Harness, or VVAH, to test its own systems against frontier models.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
Vulnerability unites not only Bastian and Fito, but all of us witnessing their story who hope against hope that compassion will somehow win the day.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2025
Vulnerability breeds vulnerability; anyone who has worried about a loved one knows this truth.
From Salon • Jul. 29, 2025
The paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, is entitled: "Vulnerability of Arctic Ocean microbial eukaryotes to sea ice loss."
From Science Daily • Nov. 26, 2024
Denmark, Neutrality of, and Vulnerability of Sea-communications, 315.
From 1914 by French, John Denton Pinkstone, Earl of Ypres
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.
