liable
- 1Likely; expected to happen or to act in a particular way under the circumstances.
Without a reminder, he's liable to miss the appointment entirely.
Prices are liable to climb sharply during the holiday season.
Similarlikely, apt, prone, inclined, bound
Oppositeunlikely
Note
A predicative use that always comes after the verb and is always followed by a to-infinitive: someone is liable to slip on your icy sidewalk. Unlike likely, it never stands before a noun. In careful usage it leans toward outcomes nobody wants, which reflects its kinship with risk and exposure. Neutral or hoped-for predictions therefore sit better with likely.
- 2Legally bound or obligated; responsible and answerable for something under the law or in equity.
Like signing your name to a bill: if it goes unpaid, you're the one who has to settle it.
The company was held liable for the injuries its product caused.
Tenants remain liable for unpaid rent even after they move out.
Similarresponsible, accountable, answerable, obligated
Note
The sense closest to the word's root: Old French lier, from Latin ligare, both meaning "to bind," so a liable party is one the law has tied to an obligation. The construction is liable for the thing owed, as when a surety is liable for a debt. Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) already warns against making oneself liable for the debts of others. Keep liable to for the "prone to" meaning.
- 3Susceptible or prone to something, especially an unwelcome condition that one is exposed to by nature or circumstance.
Like a low field that floods whenever the river rises.
Low-lying coastal areas are liable to flooding during heavy storms.
Newcomers are especially liable to homesickness in their first months abroad.
Similarprone, susceptible, subject, vulnerable, predisposed
Oppositeimmune, resistant, invulnerable
Note
Here liable takes to followed by a noun: liable to heart disease, liable to imprisonment for life. What follows is usually something unwelcome, and it can even be a word's fate. John Walker's A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (1791) calls earth liable to a coarse vulgar pronunciation. Put a verb after to instead and you have the "likely to" meaning.
- 4Exposed to a particular contingency or risk; open to a possible event or outcome that is more or less probable.
Goods left on the dock are liable to seizure if duties go unpaid.
Climbers who ignore the forecast are liable to sudden, dangerous changes in weather.
Similarsubject, exposed, open, susceptible, vulnerable
Practice
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Origin
From Old French lier ("to bind"), which comes from Latin ligare ("to bind, to tie").