Liable
['laɪəb(ə)l] or ['laɪəbl]
Definition
(adj.) held legally responsible; 'men between the ages of 18 and 35 were liable for military service' .
(adj.) (often followed by `to') likely to be affected with; 'liable to diabetes' .
(adj.) subject to legal action; 'liable to criminal charges' .
Typed by Kevin--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable; as, the surety is liable for the debt of his principal.
(v. t.) Exposed to a certain contingency or casualty, more or less probable; -- with to and an infinitive or noun; as, liable to slip; liable to accident.
Edited by Alta
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Answerable, responsible, accountable, amenable.[2]. Exposed, subject, obnoxious.
Inputed by Chris
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See AMENABLE]
Checked by Adrienne
Definition
adj. able to be bound or obliged: responsible: tending to: subject: (Shak.) exposed: suitable.—ns. Liabil′ity state of being liable: that for which one is liable an obligation debt &c.; Lī′ableness state of being liable.—Employers' Liability Act an enactment (1880) making employers answerable to their servants for the negligence of those to whom they have delegated their authority; Limited liability a principle of modern statute law which attempts to limit the responsibilities of shareholders in a partnership joint-stock company &c. by the extent of their personal interest therein.
Edited by Abraham
Examples
- It's my duty to inform you that any observations you may make will be liable to be used against you. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- I made a mistake; we are all liable to mistakes; I won't do so any more, and I'll become such a lawyer as is not often seen. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- An extraneous jurisdiction of this kind, besides, is liable to be exercised both ignorantly and capriciously. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He is liable, in consequence, to be frequently without any. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Their freight is much less, and their insurance not greater; and no goods, besides, are less liable to suffer by the carriage. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This renders them liable to destruction in times of drought. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Then everything which is good, whether made by art or nature, or both, is least liable to suffer change from without? Plato. The Republic.
- If any copies were handed about, they must have been in manuscript, and each copy must have been liable to errors and deliberate falsification. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- To be sure, he replied, they are liable to err. Plato. The Republic.
- Now, you see, Rokesmith,' he went on, 'a literary man--WITH a wooden leg--is liable to jealousy. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- You were liable to arrest if you did not have one worn in plain sight. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- We have also formerly seen that parts many times repeated are eminently liable to vary, not only in number, but in form. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- What is called a bounty, is sometimes no more than a drawback, and, consequently, is not liable to the same objections as what is properly a bounty. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- That sounds a dangerous maxim, sir; because one can see at once that it is liable to abuse. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I thought of Steerforth: and a foolish, fearful fancy came upon me of his being near at hand, and liable to be met at any turn. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I have only hobbled those which are liable to panic, Pablo said. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- All commodities are more or less liable to variations of price, but some are much more so than others. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But relations of this sort, even when they are of long standing, are always liable to change. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It is equally wholesome, and while it does not have the same rich flavor, it has the advantage that it keeps better, and is not so liable to become rancid or strong. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- There is another misfortune, I said, to which a woman may be liable, and by which she may suffer lifelong sorrow and shame. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Some kinds were too soft and porous, others were liable to split easily. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- He's liable to be arrested the moment he sets foot on English ground. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- The second relation I shall observe as essential to causes and effects, is not so universally acknowledged, but is liable to some controversy. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Him that shall be nameless is liable to be talked over. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate? Plato. The Republic.
- As you say, Mr. Smallweed, here's Matthew Bagnet liable to be fixed whether or no. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But are the rulers of states absolutely infallible, or are they sometimes liable to err? Plato. The Republic.
- It is liable, besides, to almost continual variations. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- A few words which dropped from him yesterday spoke his opinion, and some censure I acknowledge myself liable to. Jane Austen. Emma.
- And we do not deny that they are very liable to be corrupted; but yet surely in the course of ages there might be one exception--and one is enough. Plato. The Republic.
Edited by Abraham