vulnerable
adjective
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The History of Vulnerable
Superheroes are often depicted in comic books and movies as all-powerful, deflecting boulders and missiles in mid-air with a flick of the wrist, walking through walls, and having indestructible skeletons and whatnot. Fans know, however, that even the mightiest, meatiest protagonist is vulnerable to something, be it kryptonite or forgetting the whereabouts of one’s hammer. Vulnerable ultimately comes from the Latin noun vulnus, meaning “wound,” by way of the Late Latin adjective vulnerabilis, which English speakers adopted as vulnerable in the early 1600s. Vulnerable continues to carry its original meaning of “capable of being physically wounded,” but since the late 1600s it has also been used figuratively to suggest a defenselessness against non-physical attacks. In other words, someone (or something) can be vulnerable to criticism or failure as well as to literal wounding—even superheroes. So don’t go breaking their hearts, even if you can’t break their bones.
Examples of vulnerable in a Sentence
Vytautas Kaziukonis, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025
However, those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions, children, older adults, and people who are pregnant are particularly vulnerable.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Apr. 2025
Google faces other mounting issues that have put the company in an especially vulnerable position.
—Shannon Carroll, Quartz, 23 Apr. 2025
But this spectacle has obscured a series of moves by the administration that could profoundly harm some of the most vulnerable people in the U.S.: children.
—Eli Hager, ProPublica, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vulnerable
Cite this Entry
“Vulnerable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vulnerable. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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vulnerable
adjective
Medical Definition
vulnerable
adjective
The Journal of the American Medical Association
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