Vulnerable To: Standard Pattern
Vulnerable To: Standard Pattern records the directly documented construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Use “vulnerable to” before the harm, pressure, attack, criticism, or other risk that someone or something is exposed to.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Context | Use | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| naming a danger, attack, criticism, pressure, or other risk | vulnerable to | Use “vulnerable to + risk/source.” |
| risk source is already clear | vulnerable | The adjective can stand without an explicit complement. |
| another complement relation is intended | check context | Do not turn the attested “to” pattern into a blanket rule for every use. |
Quick tests
Risk-source test
Are you naming what could harm, attack, pressure, or adversely affect the subject?
If yes: Use “vulnerable to + risk/source.”
If no: The adjective may stand alone when the risk is understood.
Caveat: The reviewed source attests “vulnerable to” but does not require an explicit “to” complement in every sentence.
Examples
Young plants are vulnerable to frost.
The complement names the source of possible harm.
The old system is vulnerable to attack.
“To” introduces the documented risk.
Without a backup, the network remains vulnerable.
The adjective stands alone because the risk need not be repeated.
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “vulnerable to” in examples where the to-complement names a danger, attack, criticism, or other source of possible harm.
Style Boundary
Vulnerable can also appear without an explicit to-complement when the source of risk is already clear, so this page does not require to in every sentence.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- VULNERABLE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press & Assessment · Cambridge dictionary evidence for the adjective vulnerable and its documented vulnerable-to construction.