labile

English

Etymology

Latin labilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from labi (“to fall, slip”).

Adjective

labile (comparative more labile, superlative most labile)

1. Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
2. Apt or likely to change.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.12:

     Pythagoras [said] that each thing or matter was ever gliding and labile.

3. (chemistry, of a compound or bond) Kinetically unstable; rapidly cleaved (and possibly reformed).

   Certain drugs can be conjugated to polymer molecules with a linkage that is labile at low pH to effect controlled release in a cellular endosome.

   Water ligands typically bind metals in a labile fashion and are rapidly interchanged in aqueous solution.

Related terms

• lability
• lapse

Derived terms

• labile verb

Translations

liable to slip, err, fall or apostatize

• Polish: labilny m

External links

• labile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• labile in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• labile at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• alible
• Biella
• liable

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Danish

Adjective

labile

1. singular definite of labil
2. plural indefinite of labil
3. plural definite of labil

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio (Belgium)

  (file)

Adjective

labile (masculine and feminine, plural labiles)

1. labile

Anagrams

• baille, bâille, bâillé

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Italian

Adjective

labile m and f (m and f plural labili)

1. fleeting, ephemeral

Anagrams

• biella, Biella

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Latin

Adjective

lābile

1. nominative neuter singular of lābilis
2. accusative neuter singular of lābilis
3. vocative neuter singular of lābilis