Word.ws English Dictionary

liable

/ˈlaɪ̯əbəl/

liable adjective: bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.

Adjective

liable (comparative more liable, superlative most liable)

  1. Bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
    • The surety is liable for the debt of his principal.
    • He inveighed against the folly of making oneself liable for the debts of others; vented many bitter execrations against the brother; and concluded with wishing something could be done for the unfortunate family.
    • The passion for philosophy, like that for religion, seems liable to this inconvenience1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
  2. Subject; susceptible; prone.
    • This crime is liable to imprisonment for life.
    • A man liable to heart disease.
  3. Exposed to a certain contingency or causality, more or less probable.
    • Electronic devices are liable to malfunction when exposed to extreme heat.
  4. (predicative) Likely.
    • Someone is liable to slip on your icy sidewalk.

liable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

liable in Hindi

legally responsible
उत्तरदायी uttardāyī

liable in Tamil

உட்பட்ட, கடப்பாடுடைய, உட்பட்டு, பொறுப்பான, கடம்பாடு உடையவர், சட்டக் கடப்பாடுடைய

liable in Urdu

عائد, جواب دہ, زیربار

liable in Bengali

দায়ী, বাধ্য, সম্ভাবনাযুক্ত, অধীন, বাধ্যবাধকতাযুক্ত, প্রবণ
More languagesFewer languages
liable in Malayalam
ബാദ്ധ്യതയുളള, ബാദ്ധ്യസ്ഥമായ, ഉത്തരവാദപ്പെട്ട, സാധ്യതയുളള
liable in Kannada
ಕಾಯಿದೆ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಹೊಣೆಗಾರನಾದ, ಕಾಯಿದೆ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರನಾದ, ದಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾದ, ದಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಗುರಿಯಾದ
liable in Sanskrit
ईश्वर īśvará

Examples of liable in a sentence

  • Bequests and legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
  • After being found liable for the crash that killed several passengers, the captain of the downed airliner lost his wings.
  • The court found the injurer liable for damages.

All 40 example sentences with liable

Forms of liable

comparativemore liable
superlativemost liable

Origin of liable

From Old French lier (“to bind”), from Latin ligō, ligāre (“to bind, to tie”). Compare typologically Russian обя́занный (objázannyj), обяза́тельный (objazátelʹnyj) (akin to вяза́ть (vjazátʹ)).

Words formed from liable

Words that rhyme with liable

Questions about liable

What does liable mean?
Liable means bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; answerable.
What is liable in Hindi?
Liable in Hindi is उत्तरदायी (uttardāyī). See Liable meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is liable?
Liable is an adjective.
How do you pronounce liable?
Liable is pronounced /ˈlaɪ̯əbəl/.

Words near liable in the dictionary

  1. Liabeuf
  2. liabilities
  3. liability
  4. liability insurance
  5. liability insurances
  6. liable
  7. liableness
  8. liably
  9. liage
  10. liagoracean
  11. liaise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: liable (page history and authors); liable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); liable (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); liable (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); liable (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); liable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ईश्वर (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “liable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/liable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.