— metastability /met'euh steuh bil"i tee/ , n.
/met"euh stay'beuhl, met'euh stay"-/ , adj.
1. Metall. chemically unstable in the absence of certain conditions that would induce stability, but not liable to spontaneous transformation.
2. Also, labile . Physics, Chem. pertaining to a body or system existing at an energy level (metastable state) above that of a more stable state and requiring the addition of a small amount of energy to induce a transition to the more stable state.
[ 1895-1900; META- + STABLE 2 ]