Liable means legally responsible for something, especially when it involves paying money or facing consequences. If you break your neighbor's window with a baseball, your family is liable for the damage and will need to pay for a replacement. If a company sells a defective product that hurts someone, the company is liable and must make it right.

The word captures an important idea: when your actions cause harm or loss to someone else, you bear responsibility for fixing it. A dog owner is liable if their pet bites someone. A driver is liable for an accident they caused. Being liable doesn't always mean you intended harm. You can be liable even for accidents or mistakes.

People also use liable to mean likely or prone to something happening: “If you don't study, you're liable to fail the test” or “leave food out and you're liable to attract ants.” This usage suggests something is probably going to happen based on the circumstances.

The related word liability describes either the state of being responsible (a legal liability) or something that creates problems or disadvantages. In sports, a player who keeps making mistakes can become a liability to their team.