Labile - plus, 7 Words from the Working World

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY September 17, 2019 labile [Audio pronunciation]( adjective | LAY-byle Definition 1 : readily or continually undergoing chemical, physical, or biological change or breakdown : [unstable]( 2 : readily open to change Scroll down for more about labile TRENDING NOW: [stymie]( [what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander]( [prorogue]( [the]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING [7 Words from the Working World]( [A Tasty Guide to the Parts of a Fruit]( [The Trick to Choosing 'Pawn Off' or 'Palm Off']( [The Good, The Bad, & The Semantically Imprecise - 9/13/19]( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [Musical Words Quiz]( A quiz in common time. [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? We are confident that you won't slip up or err in learning today's word, despite its etymology. Labile was borrowed into English from French and can be traced back (by way of Middle French labile, meaning "prone to err") to the Latin verb labi, meaning "to slip or fall." Indeed, the first sense of labile in English was "prone to slip, err, or lapse," but that usage is now obsolete. Other labi descendants in English include [collapse]( [elapse]( and [prolapse]( as well as [lapse]( itself. Examples of LABILE "From the outset, we see Queen Anne—portrayed brilliantly by Olivia Colman—as frail, obese and emotionally-labile. One minute, she's calmly speaking to her confidante…. The next, she's accosting a boy servant in a hysterically bizarre scene…. — [Lipi Roy, Forbes.com, 24 Feb. 2019]( "'A desirable long-term outcome would be to create [contact] lenses from [polymers]( that are fine-tuned to be inert during use but labile and degradable when escaping into the environment.' As for members of the public concerned they are polluting the environment, [Dr. Rolf] Halden said: 'Used plastic lenses ideally should be returned to the manufacturer for recycling….'" — [Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2018]( Test Your Vocabulary Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means "characterized by or subject to rapid or unexpected change": v _ l _ _ il _. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( SHARE: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA, 01102, USA [www.merriam-webster.com]( | [Privacy Policy]( © 2019 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.