BharatNotes Vulnerability
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
A welfare state earns its legitimacy not by celebrating aggregate growth but by insulating its most vulnerable citizens — the landless, the migrant, the disabled — from the shocks of disease, drought, and displacement, for the true measure of governance lies in how it cushions vulnerability rather than how it tallies prosperity.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
vulnerable (adj), vulnerably (adv), invulnerable (adj), vulnerabilities (n pl), vulnerability (n)
Root
Latin vulnus = wound; vulnerāre = to wound; vulnerābilis = wounding; Late Latin -itās = noun suffix
Etymology
From Late Latin vulnerābilitās, from vulnerābilis ("wounding, injurious"), from Latin vulnerāre ("to wound"), from vulnus ("wound").
Memory Hook
Root "vulnus" = "wound" (as in "vulnerary", a wound-healing ointment). A vulnerability is the spot where you can be WOUNDED — your unguarded, open wound.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2021 — Disaster Management
- Mains 2021 · GS3 · 10 marks — Disaster Management
- Mains 2019 · GS3 · 10 marks — Disaster Management
- Mains 2016 · GS3 · 12.5 marks — Agriculture
- Mains 2013 · GS3 · 10 marks — Disaster Management
Real UPSC previous-year questions whose text uses “Vulnerability” — proof this word earns its place on your list.
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