liable

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈlaɪ̯əbəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #9517

Meanings

1

adj
Likely to do or experience something, usually something bad.

The roads are liable to freeze overnight, so drive carefully.
2

adj
Legally responsible for something.

The company is liable for any damage caused by its products.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · likely to do or experience... apt

Word family

Derived forms liablenessnonliableunliable

Related forms liability reliable

Simplified etymology

Liable ultimately derives from Latin ligare, “to bind,” and originally meant “bound by law” in late Middle English. Its history links it with rely, ligament, and ligature, all of which descend from the same Latin root.

Etymology

From Old French lier (“to bind”), from Latin ligare (“to bind, to tie”).

*leyǵ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# liable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈlaɪ̯əbəl/
**Frequency rank:** 9517

## Meanings
1. Likely to do or experience something, usually something bad.
2. Legally responsible for something.

## Examples
- The roads are liable to freeze overnight, so drive carefully.
- The company is liable for any damage caused by its products.

## Derived Forms
- liableness
- nonliable
- unliable

## Related Forms
- liability
- reliable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *leyǵ-

## Etymology
From Old French lier (“to bind”), from Latin ligare (“to bind, to tie”).

## AI Etymology
Liable comes from Old French lier (“to bind”), from Latin ligare (“to bind, to tie”). The historical chain includes *leyǵ- (Proto-Indo-European). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as liableness, nonliable, and unliable and related forms such as liability and reliable. In present use it covers likely to do or experience something, usually something bad and legally responsible for something.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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