susceptibility

susceptible +‎ -ity.

• IPA^(key): /səˌsɛptəˈbɪlɪti/

susceptibility (countable and uncountable, plural susceptibilities)

1. the condition of being susceptible; vulnerability
2. emotional sensitivity.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 40:

     The eyes were large and black, and had the moonlight's melancholy, with that tearful lustre which is the certain sign of keen susceptibility.

3. (biology, medicine, of a pathogen) Being vulnerable to a treatment (usually an antibiotic or antifungal); also, the degree of such vulnerability (i.e., weak, moderate, or strong).

   Synonym: sensitivity

   Derived terms: susceptibility testing

4. (physics) electric susceptibility, a measure of how easily a dielectric polarizes in response to an external electric field (compare permittivity).