labile
adjUK /ˈleɪbaɪl/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin lābilis (“apt to slip, transient”), from lābor, lābī (“slip; glide, flow”).
1
Liable to slip, err, fall, or apostatize.
2
Apt or likely to change.
- Pythagoras [said] that each thing or matter was ever gliding and labile.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
3
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences 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
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences 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, heat labile, hemilabile, labile affect, labile verb, labilization, labilize, nonlabile, photolabile, stereolabile, thermolabile