- Today's Word
Labile
LAY-byle
Definition
(adjective) Likely to change rapidly, especially emotionally or chemically.
Example
The labile patient’s mood shifted from joy to tears within minutes.
Fun Fact
Labile comes from the Latin labilis, meaning “slippery”—fitting for a word used to describe volatility. In neuroscience, labile emotions refer to intense mood swings, such as in bipolar disorder. In chemistry, it applies to bonds or compounds that shift states easily. The word is also increasingly used in pop psychology to describe people whose reactions change without warning.
(adjective) Failing to act or resist; passive and yielding, especially when action is urgently needed.
The board’s supine response to the mounting crisis — endless meetings, no decisions, no accountability — allowed a manageable problem to become a catastrophic one.
Supine derives from the Latin supinus, meaning “lying face upward” or “thrown backward,” rooted in the same base as sub- (“under”). It entered English in the 15th century with both its literal meaning — lying flat on one’s back — and its figurative sense of moral or intellectual passivity. The physical image is the etymology: a person flat on their back, facing the sky, unable or unwilling to rise and meet what’s coming.