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Labile

//ˈleɪbaɪl// adj

Definitions

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

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

  3. 3
    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."

  4. 4
    Able to change valency without changing its form; especially, able to be used both transitively and intransitively without changing its form.
Adjective
  1. 1
    liable to change wordnet
  2. 2
    (chemistry, physics, biology) readily undergoing change or breakdown wordnet

Etymology

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

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