# vulnerability

Pronunciation: say "vul-nuh-ruh-BIL-uh-tee" US /ˌvʌln(ə)ɹəˈbɪləti/, AUS /ˌvɐln(ə)ɹəˈbɪləti/; UK say "vul-nuh-ruh-BIL-i-tee" /ˌvʌln(ə)ɹəˈbɪlɪti/

## Noun

1. The state of being open to attack or injury, whether physical or emotional, or of being weak and poorly defended.
   - Simple: Being easy to hurt or harm, in your body or your feelings.
   - _The disaster exposed the vulnerability of communities living near the coast._
   - _Sharing his fears with the group took courage and revealed real vulnerability._
2. A particular weak point in the protections or defenses surrounding a person, place, or thing.
   - Simple: A weak point in the things that protect a person or thing.
   - _Investigators identified a key vulnerability in the building's security arrangements._
   - _The general searched the enemy line for a vulnerability he could exploit._
3. A weakness that allows an attacker to reduce the security of a computer system.
   - Simple: A weak spot in a computer system that lets an attacker break its safety.
   - _The security researcher reported a critical vulnerability in the operating system._
   - _Attackers exploited a vulnerability in the server to gain unauthorized access._

## Origin

Formed from "vulnerable" with the suffix "-ity."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vulnerability (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).