fragile

(frăj'əl, -īl')
adj.

1. Easily broken, damaged, or destroyed; frail.
2. Lacking physical or emotional strength; delicate.
3. Lacking substance; tenuous or flimsy: a fragile claim to fame.

[French, from Old French, from Latin fragilis, from frangere, frag-, to break.]

fragilely frag'ile·ly adv.
fragility fra·gil'i·ty (frə-jĭl'ĭ-tē) or frag'ile·ness n.

SYNONYMS   fragile, breakable, frangible, delicate, brittle. These adjectives mean easily broken or damaged. Fragile applies to objects that are not made of strong or sturdy material and that require great care when handled: fragile porcelain plates. Breakable and frangible mean capable of being broken but do not necessarily imply inherent weakness: breakable toys; frangible artifacts. Delicate refers to what is so soft, tender, or fine as to be susceptible to injury: delicate fruit. Brittle refers to inelasticity that makes something especially likely to fracture or snap when it is subjected to pressure: brittle bones. See also synonyms at weak.

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adjective

1. Easily broken or damaged: breakable, brittle, delicate, frangible. See strong/weak.
2. Not physically strong: decrepit, delicate, feeble, flimsy, frail, infirm, insubstantial, puny, unsound, unsubstantial, weak, weakly. See strong/weak.

adj

Definition: breakable, dainty
Antonyms: durable, firm, strong, tough, unbreakable

Syn brittle.

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IN BRIEF: Easily broken or damaged.

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together. — Vista M. Kelly.

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Susceptibility, or lack of resistance, to influences capable of causing disruption of continuity or integrity.

• f. of blood — see erythrocyte fragility (below).
• capillary f. — abnormal susceptibility of capillary walls to rupture.
• erythrocyte f. — susceptibility of erythrocytes to hemolysis when subjected to mechanical trauma (mechanical fragility) or when exposed to increasingly hypotonic saline solutions (osmotic fragility). A test of erythrocyte osmotic fragility is used in diagnosing hemolytic anemia. Called also fragility of blood.

For a list of words related to fragile, see:

• Sickly, out of shape, dull, or weak
• Weak, Fearful, or Anxious

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See words rhyming with "fragility."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Fragile.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - skrøbelig, spinkel, skør

Nederlands (Dutch)
breekbaar, broos, tenger

Français (French)
adj. - fragile, patraque, ténu

Deutsch (German)
adj. - zerbrechlich, zart, gebrechlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - εύθραυστος

Italiano (Italian)
fragile

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - frágil

Русский (Russian)
ломкий, хрупкий

Español (Spanish)
adj. - frágil, quebradizo

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - bräcklig, klen (om person)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
易碎的, 脆的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 易碎的, 脆的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 부서지기 쉬운, 연약한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 壊れやすい, もろい, 虚弱な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) هش , سهل الكسر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮שביר, חלש‬

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