Vulnerabilities

How to spell vulnerabilities

15 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce vulnerabilities

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does vulnerabilities mean?

1. nounWeaknesses or points of exposure that leave someone or something open to harm, attack, or failure.

Vulnerabilities in a sentence

• The security audit uncovered several vulnerabilities in the company network.

• The report listed the financial vulnerabilities that could sink the business in a downturn.

Where does vulnerabilities come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun vulnus, meaning 'a wound', from which Latin formed the verb vulnerare, 'to wound or injure'. From that verb came the late Latin adjective vulnerabilis, describing something that could be wounded. English borrowed 'vulnerable' in the early 1600s, originally in the literal sense of being open to physical injury, before it broadened to cover emotional, financial, and security weaknesses. The abstract noun 'vulnerability' followed, and its plural 'vulnerabilities' is now common in technology and risk contexts to mean specific weak points. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle: the 'ner' and the 'bil' both contain reduced vowels that are easy to drop or swap, and the silent shift from -ity to -ities at the end adds another step to remember.

How the word is built

• vulner- (from Latin vulnus: wound)
• -able (capable of being)
• -ity (state or quality)
• -ies (plural)