Meaning & use
susceptibility
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Meanings
noununcountable
The state of being easily affected or harmed by something, such as a disease or an influence.
Grammar: Followed by to: susceptibility to infection.
Patterns
- susceptibility to something
Older people have a higher susceptibility to infection.
The study measured the plant's susceptibility to frost.
His susceptibility to flattery made him easy to manipulate.
nounusually pluralold-fashioned
Feelings or sensitivities that can be easily hurt.
Grammar: Usually plural, as in hurt someone's susceptibilities.
Patterns
- offend someone's susceptibilities
She took care not to offend the host's susceptibilities.
The film may shock viewers with delicate susceptibilities.
The writer did not spare their susceptibilities.
nouncountable or uncountablephysicstechnical
In physics, how strongly a material becomes magnetized or polarized in a field.
Grammar: Technical use: magnetic susceptibility.
Patterns
- magnetic susceptibility
The magnetic susceptibility of iron is very high.
Researchers measured the susceptibility of the sample.
Susceptibility changes with temperature in many materials.
Word forms
| plural | susceptibilities |
|---|
Common combinations
- susceptibility to disease
- Poor diet increases susceptibility to disease.
- increased susceptibility
- Stress leads to increased susceptibility to colds.
- genetic susceptibility
- Some people have a genetic susceptibility to the condition.
- reduce susceptibility
- Vaccines reduce susceptibility to serious illness.
- susceptibility to influence
- Teenagers often show greater susceptibility to influence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vulnerability
- Vulnerability stresses being open to attack or harm, while susceptibility stresses being easily affected.
- sensitivity
- Sensitivity often means reacting strongly, not necessarily being harmed, while susceptibility suggests risk.
- proneness
- Proneness is less formal and stresses a habit of suffering from something, as in accident-proneness.
- liability
- Liability suggests being legally or likely responsible for a problem, a narrower use than susceptibility.
Opposites
Word family
- susceptible adjective
- easily affected or harmed
- susceptibly adverb
- in an easily influenced way, rare
- unsusceptible adjective
- not easily influenced
Commonly confused: susceptibility or receptivity?
susceptibility vs receptivity
Receptivity means willingness to accept ideas, usually positive, while susceptibility suggests risk of harm.
Practice
The doctor explained that the child's ______ to infection was higher because of her weak immune system.
Choose one answer.
Susceptibility to infection means being easily affected by it. Immunity and resistance mean the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “susceptibility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.