vulnerableadjective
uk/ˈvʌl.nər.ə.bəl//ˈvʌn.rə.bəl/us/ˈvʌl.nɚ.ə.bəl/C2 able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt, influenced, or attacked:
I felt very vulnerable, standing there without any clothes on.
It is on economic policy that the government is most vulnerable.
Tourists are more vulnerable to attack, because they do not know which areas of the city to avoid.
More examples
- Alison's story is a reminder of how vulnerable women can be in what is still essentially a man's world.
- Start-ups are very vulnerable in the business world.
- Small companies such as ours are very vulnerable in a recession.
- These schools are known to be vulnerable to vandalism.
- We provide a place of safety for vulnerable children.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Weakness and vulnerability
- Achilles heel
- at a low ebb idiom
- be (only) flesh and blood idiom
- be sb's poodle idiom
- chink in sb's armour idiom
- ebb
- faint
- impotent
- indefensible
- lax
- limp
- malleable
- susceptibility
- susceptible
- toothless
- totter
- underbelly
- unprotected
- unsteady
- wraith
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vulnerability
noun [ U ] uk/ˌvʌl.nər.əˈbɪl.ə.ti//ˌvʌn.rəˈbɪl.ə.ti/us/ˌvʌl.nɚ.əˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/
You want a doctor who understands the patient's vulnerability.