labile

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lābilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from lābor, lābī (“slip; glide, flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪbaɪl/

  • Audio (RP):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbaɪl

Adjective

labile (comparative more labile, superlative most labile)

1. Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
2. Apt or likely to change.

   Synonym: unstable

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     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.

4. (linguistics, of a verb) Able to change valency without changing its form; especially, able to be used both transitively and intransitively without changing its form.

Derived terms

• frigolabile
• hemilabile
• labile verb
• nonlabile
• photolabile
• stereolabile
• thermolabile

 

Related terms

• lability
• lapse

Translations

liable to slip, err, fall or apostatize

• Bulgarian: неустойчив (bg) (neustojčiv)
• Finnish: labiili (fi)
• German: labil (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: labilny (pl) m
• Sicilian: làbbili m or m pl or f or f pl
• Spanish: lábil (es)
• Swedish: labil (sv)

kinetically unstable; rapidly cleaved

• Bulgarian: лабилен (bg) (labilen)
• Catalan: làbil
• Finnish: labiili (fi)
• French: labile (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: labile (it)
• Sicilian: làbbili m or m pl or f or f pl
• Spanish: lábil (es)

Further reading

• “labile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “labile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “labile”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Belial, Biella, alible, liable

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Danish

Adjective

labile

1. (deprecated template usage) definite singular of labil
2. (deprecated template usage) indefinite plural of labil
3. (deprecated template usage) definite plural of labil

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French

Etymology

From Latin lābilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from lābor, lābī (“slip; glide, flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la.bil/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

Adjective

labile (plural labiles)

1. labile

Further reading

• “labile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• baille, bâille, bâillé

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin lābilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from lābor, lābī (“slip; glide, flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈla.bi.le/
• Rhymes: -abile
• Hyphenation: là‧bi‧le

Adjective

labile (plural labili)

1. fleeting, ephemeral
   • 2019 November, Silvia Ferrara, La grande invenzione, Feltrinelli, →ISBN, page 24:

     È vero che la connessione tra parole e natura è labile, ma a volte ci sorprende quanto sia marcata.

     It's true that the link between words and nature is unstable, but sometimes it's surprising how pronounced it is.

2. fickle

Derived terms

• labilmente

Further reading

• labile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Biella, biella

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) lābile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of lābilis