Definition of "vulnerable" []

• Susceptible to physical or emotional injury. (adjective)
• Susceptible to attack: "We are vulnerable both by water and land, without either fleet or army” ( Alexander Hamilton). (adjective)
• Open to censure or criticism; assailable. (adjective)
• Liable to succumb, as to persuasion or temptation. (adjective)
• Games In a position to receive greater penalties or bonuses in a hand of bridge. In a rubber, used of the pair of players who score 100 points toward game. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Lyon has been called many things, but never was the word vulnerable put to his name."
• "The word vulnerable itself comes from the Latin vulnerare which means 'to wound', and so at the root of vulnerability is my own sense of wounded-ness."
• "The language is lucid yet gripping and reflects popular human sentiment and passions, †observes D†™ Souza. “The term vulnerable has been specifically and repeatedly coined to reiterate the myriad vulnerabilities faced by the nation from political establishments."