Dictionary › L › liable
liable
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As an adjective, liable means bound or obliged in law or equity.
Meanings of liable
8 meaningsadjective
Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
“The surety is liable for the debt of his principal.”
Subject; susceptible.
“This crime is liable to imprisonment for life.”
“A man liable to heart disease.”
Exposed to a certain contingency or causality, more or less probable.
as predicatewith "to"an infinitiveLikely.
“Someone is liable to slip on your icy sidewalk.”
At risk of or subject to experiencing something usually unpleasant
“he is apt to lose”
“she is liable to forget”
Similar: aptSubject to legal action
“liable to criminal charges”
(often followed by ‘to’) likely to be affected with
“liable to diabetes”
Similar: nonimmune, nonresistant, unresistantHeld legally responsible
“men between the ages of 18 and 35 were liable for military service”
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).