labile

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪbaɪl/

Adjective

labile (comparative more labile, superlative most labile)

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

   Synonym: unstable

   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
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

• frigolabile
• 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
• Spanish: lábil (es)

kinetically unstable; rapidly cleaved

• Bulgarian: лабилен (bg) (labilen)
• Catalan: làbil
• Finnish: labiili (fi)
• French: labile (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: labile (it)
• 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

---

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

---

French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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

---

Italian

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin lābilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from lābor, lābī (“slip; glide, flow”).

Adjective

1. fleeting, ephemeral
2. fickle

Anagrams

• biella, Biella

---

Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) lābile

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