Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme for smarties hosted by Kathy at bermudaonion.net. Join us and share some interesting words from your reading or daily life.
My entry this week comes from the good old Merriam-Webster Word of the Day.
After my tween daughter deteriorated into a sobbing mess of flailing hands and piercing shrieks, I turned to my husband and said, “She’s been a little labile today.” He took another sip from his beer.
labile \LAY-byle\ adj. from Latin labi-, to slip; readily or frequently changing, as
- continually undergoing chemical, physical, or biological change or breakdown
- characterized by wide fluctuations (as in blood pressure)
- (my favorite usage) emotionally unstable
If you are currently dealing with a labile teen or tween, please read this sentimental post by my friend Amy Makechnie. You’ll find a way to deal with labile. 🙂
And, I’ll admit it, my lability hasn’t disappeared with age!
Word Nerd Workout
Use labile in a sentence, incorporating any of the meanings above. Can’t wait to read!
Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!
Julia
It’s not just teenagers that can be labile, it can go along with depression, or quite commonly after a stroke too. It is a wonderfully descriptive and quite useful word.
Well, being of a certain age, I think labile can describe women in menopause as well as teenagers. I’ve had days when I was so labile, I didn’t even like myself. Great word today!
Hi Kathy and Julia,
Kathy, you stole my line beautifully. I had my sentence prepared, opened the comments box and there you were, describing exactly the same scenario!!
I think that the menopausal lability, incorporates all three of the definitions quite easily.
Julia, the lovely post you featured by Amy summed up her feelings about her labile teenagers in the nicest possible way. Just wait until they are trying to sum up her labile menopausal moments in a few years time, I bet they won’t be half as nice about it.
To pick up on Brona’s observant comment, lability during menopause definitely makes me a liability, especially around knives and anything else which can be used as missiles … that’s before I end up a gibbering, sobbing wreck in the corner somewhere!!
Great post and word this week
Yvonne
We are having a lot of fun with this word, aren’t we? Thanks everyone!
“I think I’m going to take another shower,” my daughter, 17, said, striding through the family room. “No,I don’t know, maybe. Well, yeah, I will.”
“That will be number three, today,” I say.
“Yeah dad. Like, dah. Teenagers like taking showers. Well, sometimes,” she says, skipping up the steps.
I turn to Sheila (my wife). “She’s liable to do anything being this labile.”
Love it Kris! Fantastic
sentencesdialogue! Bonus word nerd points for you!I love what you did with liable and labile 🙂
Perhaps labilty is a liability?
Labile: the perfect word for daughters of any age!! My girls, 16 m/o and almost 4 y/o, definitely have moments of lability. Every. Single. Day!
Hang in there, mama!