Fragile

Definition: Fragile

Fragile

Adjective

1. Easily broken or damaged or destroyed; "a kite too delicate to fly safely"; "fragile porcelain plates"; "fragile old bones"; "a frail craft".

2. Vulnerably delicate; "she has the fragile beauty of youth".

3. Lacking solidity or strength; "a flimsy table"; "flimsy construction"; "a fragile link with the past".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "fragile" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Etymology: Fragile \Frag"ile\, adjective. [Latin expression fragilis, from frangere to break; compare to French fragile. See Break, transitive verb, and compare to Frail,]. (references)

Computing

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Fragile

Brittleness

Adjective: brittle, brash, breakable, weak, frangible, fragile, frail, gimcrack, shivery, fissile; splitting. Verb: lacerable, splintery, crisp, crimp, short, brittle as glass.

Weakness

Frail, fragile, flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread; rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky; craichy; drooping, tottering; Verb:.

Crosswords: Fragile

French (breakable, brittle, delicate, fragile, frail, frangible, short, tender, tenuous, unimmunized, weak), Italian (breakable, brittle, feeble, flimsy, fragile, frail, frangible, rattly, short), Latin (brittle, frail, impermanent).

Life is a fragile thing, Har. One minute you're chewin' on a burger, the next minute you're dead meat (Dumb & Dumber; writing credit: Peter Farrelly; Bennett Yellin)

Poor humanity's so fragile, so weak (Things to Come; writing credit: H.G. Wells)

It rises 1600 feet--a world of dangerous, fragile beauty; a cascade of massive blocks of ice moving imperceptibly from the glacier above, pushed by the weight of centuries of the snows of Everest (The Man Who Skied Down Everest; writing credit: Kyle Onstott; Jack Kirkland)

I know she's made to be strong, but she's also so fragile, so human (The Fifth Element; writing credit: Luc Besson)

Asian culture has plagued our fragile earth for many years (South Park; writing credit: Rocco Siffredi)

Fragile but free (Something About You; performing artist: Level 42)

Life is fragile, handle with prayer. (references; author: unknown)

Fragile (2003)

Un bonheur si fragile (1999)

Haut bas fragile (1995)

Fragile (1988)

L' Homme fragile (1981)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• The 2002 Official Parent's Sourcebook on Fragile X Syndrome (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• Fragile Glory: A Portrait of France and the French (reference)

• In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land (reference)

• The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For? (reference)

• The Fragile Flag (reference)

• The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Audubon's Galapagos: My Fragile World (reference)

• This Fragile Planet (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Fragile [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] (reference)

• Fragile Human (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Bubble Shell, Haminoea sp. is seasonally abundant intertidally and subtidally on mud flats and sandy-mud bottomed bays from Alaska to the Gulf of California. The shell is fragile, translucent, and too small to contain the body. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR).

Jellyfish come in many forms, many too fragile to capture in nets. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

Figures 1-10, Mycedium fragile Dana. Figures 11-13, Agaricia agaricites Milne-Edw. and Haime. Siderastraea galaxea Milne-Edw. and Haime. In: "Report on the Florida Reefs", 1880, by Louis Agassiz. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Vol. VII, No. 1. Plate XI. These plates help document the oldest studies of the Florida Reefs. Credit: The Coral Kingdom.

Ship grounding damage the fragile reef. Credit: Sanctuaries.

Figure 23. The HIRONDELLE enclosed spring dynanometer. This type of shock absorber employed a metallic spring instead of rubber, which was fragile and alterable. It was designed and built by Jules LeBlanc following the suggestion of Prince Albert I of Monaco. It was first used in 1888 on the HIRONDELLE and for many subsequent years and scientific campaigns. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.

Fragile soils on steep hillsides in Clark County, NV. Credit: Lynn Betts.

FRAGILE Handle With Care : When you're angry, don't shake your baby...reach for help. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Plasmodium Fragile / G.H. Nicholson. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Despair is surrounded by fragile walls which all open into vice or crime

Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

The bone becomes fragile. (references)

Some children with Fragile X learn sign language, a visual system. (references)

When the spleen is large, it is fragile and there is a risk of rupture. (references)

Business

Increased competition will likely result in the dissolution of the more fragile, small-scale banks in Egypt. (references)

Economic History

Russia

Democratic institutions are fragile in Russia. (references)

Togo

Its democratic institutions remain nascent and fragile. (references)

Vietnam

Unfortunately, what currently exists of the corporate private sector is extremely fragile. (references)

Human Rights

Morocco

Some newspapers called for an investigation into the court's handling of the case because the judge and prosecutor allegedly failed to inquire into the detainee's fragile state of health, as required by law. (references)

Political Economy

Colombia

Public support for the peace process remains fragile. (references)

Ecuador

Despite two decades of civilian rule, Ecuador's political institutions remain fragile. (references)

Political Rights

East Timor

After three postponements due to a fragile security situation, the referendum was held on August 30, 1999. Militia groups backed by Indonesian armed forces attempted, through numerous killings, attacks, rapes, and other abuses, to intimidate the East Timorese population into voting for autonomy (and, in effect, against independence), or to prevent them from voting at all; nevertheless, some 98 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, and 78.5 percent of the voters opposed the autonomy proposal. (references)

Trade

Guinea

The banking system has a narrow base, is very fragile and is unable to meet the development needs of the private sector. (references)

Worker Rights

Romania

Although at times fragile, the Social Pact remained in place at year's end, and the Government initiated talks on its renewal. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "fragile": fragile fern ♦ fragile goods ♦ Fragile X Syndrome. Additional references.

Beginning with "fragile": fragile-looking, fragile-shelled, fragile-x-syndrome.

Ending with "fragile": already-fragile, ecologically-fragile, wire-fragile.

Afrikaans

breekbaar (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Albanian

i thyeshëm (breakable, brittle, crisp, frangible, refrangible, weak), i brishtë (brittle, frail, hothouse, insubstantial, squeamish, willowy), delikat (delicate, fine, frail, hothouse, kid glove, subtile, subtle). (various references)

Arabic 

‏هش (brash, brittle, crisp, friable, powdery, short, shortened, tender, tenuous), ‏قصم (crisp, frail, friable), ‏قابل للكسر (breakable, flimsy), ‏سريع الزوال (ephemeral, evanescent, flighty, fugacious, transient, transitory, volatile), ‏ضعيف (atonic, cold, crazy, deficient, delicate, dim, emaciated, enervate, faint, feckless, feeble, flabby, flagging, frail, haggard, helpless, impotent, inaudible, infirm, invertebrate, lame, languid, languorous, lank, lean, limp, little, low, lower, nerveless, pale, powered, powerless, puny, rickety, run down, scant, scrawny, slender, slight, slim, small, soft, softy, streaked, supine, tenuous, thin, thready, toothless, unsubstantial, wan, weak, weakened, weakling, weakly, wimp, wishy washy), ‏رقيق (aerial, affectionate, airy, angelic, bland, bleeding heart, dainty, delicate, feminine, filmy, fine, flimsy, fluffy, frothy, gauzy, gentle, gingerly, gossamery, gracious, hearty, kind hearted, kindly, lovely, mellow, mincing, nice, orchidaceous, pastel, photogenic, piano, quiet, refined, romance, sharp, sloppy, smooth, soft-hearted, suave, subtle, sugary, superfine, tender, tenuous, thin, thinning, tilery, trick, warm, watery). (various references)

Bulgarian 

чуплив (brash, breakable, brittle, egg shell, frail, frangible, shivery, short, slight, tender, weak), крехък (brittle, delicate, egg shell, flimsy, frail, lean, slender, slight, tender), нежен (affectionate, dainty, delicate, dovelike, downy, fatherly, fond, frail, loving, maidenly, melodious, melting, slender, soft, sweet, tender, womanly), деликатен (considerate, delicate, fastidious, fine, nice, pernickety, prickly, slender, slippery, slippy, soft, tender, thoughtful, ticklish). (various references)

Chinese 

易碎 (brittle). (various references)

Czech

slabý (bad, decrepit, delicate, faint, fainting, feeble, frail, light, low, slack, tenuous, wan, watery, weak, weakly, weak-minded, weary), prchavý (elusive, elusory, ephemeral, fleeting, fugitive, volatile), křehký (breakable, brittle, crisp, crunchy, delicate, flimsy, frail, frangible, inconstant, lissom, shattery, tender, weak). (various references)

Danish

skør (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Dutch

breekbaar (breakable, brittle), broos (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Esperanto

fragila, facilrompa, rompiĝema (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Faeroese

brotillur. (various references)

Finnish

särkyvä (brittle), hauras (brittle, frail). (various references)

French

fragile (frail, frangible). (various references)

Frisian

brekber (breakable, brittle). (various references)

German

zerbrechlich (breakable, brittle, brittly, delicate, frail, frangible, wispy), brüchig (brittle, broken, cracked, crumbling, crumbly, flaky, rough, split), schwach (brittle, dim, dimly, docile, dull, faint, faintly, feckless, feeble, feebly, flimsily, flimsy, frail, impotent, infirm, infirmly, lame, languid, light, low, obscurely, poor, sinewed, slack, slender, slight, slightly, soft, thinly, uncertain, unsound, weak, weakly, wishy washy), gebrechlich (crippled, decayed, decrepit, dilapidated, feeble, frail, infirm, lapsed, rickety, weak). (various references)

Greek 

εύθραστος (flimsy, frail), εύθραυστοσ (breakable, brittle, crisp, frail, frangible, friable, shattery), εύθραυστος (brittle). (various references)

Hebrew 

שביר (breakable, brittle, flimsy, frail, tender), פריך (brittle, crisp, crunchy, crushable). (various references)

Hungarian

törékeny (as brittlle as glass, breakable, brittle, delicate, eager, flawed, frail, frangible, mingy, short), mulandó (caducous, evanescent, fleeting, perishable, transient, transitory, unhelpful), gyenge (anaemic, anemic, crazy, decrepit, Dickey, dicky, dim, extenuate, faint, feckless, feeble, flabby, flimsy, frail, impotent, inferior, infirm, light, low, meagre, mild, nerveless, palsied, reedy, scrannel, semi-invalid, sickly, slack, slender, slight, small voice, soft, weak, weakly), beteges (bad, ill-conditioned, indisposed, infirm, morbid, pathological, seedy, sickly, weak, weakly, woozy). (various references)

Indonesian

rapuh (brittle), mudah pecah, getas (brittle, crisp, distinct, easily), bangsai (rotten). (various references)

Italian

fragile (breakable, brittle, feeble, flimsy, frail, frangible, rattly, short). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

脆い (brittle, tender-hearted), 割れ物注意 (Handle With Care), 割れ易い (brittle, easily cracked, perishable), 壊れ易い (break easily). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

こわれやすい (break easily), われやすい (brittle, easily cracked, perishable), われものちゅうい (Handle With Care), もろい (brittle, tender-hearted). (various references)

Korean 

허약한 (infirm). (various references)

Manx

treih (abject, deplorable, doughy, drawn, feeble, forlorn, haggard, miserable, pale, pale-faced, pallid, pasty, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, regrettable, rueful, sallow, seedy, sickly, wan, wretched, wretched of thing), so-vrishey (breakable, brittle, frangible), feiosagh (flimsy, frail, lithe, slender, thin, thin in build, weak, weakling, weed, weed of person, weedy), brishlagh (breakable, brittle, crisp, easily broken, frangible). (various references)

Norwegian

skjør (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Papiamen

fofo (breakable, brittle), kibrabel (breakable, brittle), bros (breakable, brittle). (various references)

Pig Latin

agilefray.(various references)

Portuguese

frágil (brash, breakable, brittle, dainty, decayed, decrepit, delicate, dilapidated, frail, friable, lapsed, pasteboard, rickety, sleazy, tender, weak, weakly, well-made), quebradiço (brash, brittle, crisp, crumbly, frail, friable, powdery). (various references)

Romanian

fragil (breakable, brittle, crisp, fine-spun, frail, frangible, friable, handle with care, Sandy, shivery, slender, with care), fãrâmicios (breakable, crumbling, crumbly, frail, loose), gingaş (dainty, delicate, delicately, fastidious, fine, frail, gentle, mellow, nice, pernickety, sightly, squeamish, sweet, tender), delicat (captious, dainty, delicate, delicately, fine, fine-spun, finicky, frail, fussy, gentle, gentlemanlike, gently, mellow, nice, queasy, refined, slender, slim, slippery, soft, subdued, tactful, tender, thin, ticklish, tricky, weak). (various references)

Russian 

слабый (characterless, cold, cranky, delicate, dicky, dim, effeminate, enervate, faint, faint sound, faintish, feeble, frail, knock kneed, languishing, lax, limp, loosely-coupled, mild, nerveless, pale, pimping, reckling, remiss, slack, slight, soft, tender, unbacked, weak, weakly, wishy washy), хрупкий (breakable, brittle, crockish, crocky, frail, short), ломкий (breakable, brittle, crisp, frangible, shivery). (various references)

Scottish

breochaid (any tender or fragile thing). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

fragilan, krt (brittle). (various references)

Spanish

frágil (brittle, delicate, frail, frangible, porcellaneous). (various references)

Swedish

bräcklig (breakable, brittle, flimsy, frail, frangible, infirm, unsound), skör (brittle, delicate, friable, short), ömtålig (breakable, damageable, delicate, frail, perishable, sensitive, weak). (various references)

Thai

เปราะแตกง่าย, บอบบาง (eggshell, ethereal, gossamer, lily, slimline, slimy). (various references)

Turkish

narin (delicate, fine, frail, slender, slight, slim, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, willowy), kolay kırılır (brittle, frail, frangible), kırılgan (brittle, eggshell), kırılabilir (breakable, frangible, refrangible), ince (attenuate, attic, brittle, civilized, courteous, dainty, delicate, fine, graceful, gracile, gracious, keen, lean, nice, polite, precision, refined, scarious, sharp, slender, slim, subtile, subtle, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, tenuous, thin, trickish, tricksy, tricky, urbane, vaporous), gevrek (brittle, crisp, crispy, crunchy, friable, rusk, short, tender), alıngan (easily offended, edgy, irritable, pettish, petulant, sensitive, sore, squeamish, stuffy, susceptible, susceptive, swift to take offence, techy, tender, testy, tetchy, thin skin, ticklish, tickly, touchy, umbrageous), çıtkırıldım (dandified, mincing, niminy-piminy, timid). (various references)

Turkmen 

port (brittle, frail), dцwьlgiз. (various references)

Ukrainian

тендітний (delicate, slim, weak), крихкий (brash, brittle, eager, flimsy, frail, friable, shivery), ламкий (brash, breakable, frangible). (various references)

Vietnamese 

mảnh dẻ (gracile, slender, slim, tender, thin), dễ vỡ (brash, breakable, frangible, porcelain), dễ hỏng; mỏng mảnh, dễ gây. (various references)

Welsh

breg (blemish, breach, faulty, guile), brau (brittle, kindly, prompt). (various references)

fragilis, infirma, infirmam, infirmes, infirmi, infirmior, infirmiora, infirmiori, infirmis, infirmo, infirmos, infirmum, infirmus. (various references)

Misspellings

"Fragile" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bragoli, fagioli, Faigele, fragal, fraggle, fragial, fragil, fragle, fraile, fraqile, frazile, frigale, Fringilla, frugale. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: ferial, glaire.

-2 letters: afire, agile, argil, argle, ariel, farle, feral, feria, filar, filer, flair, flare, flier, frail, glair, glare, grail, grief, lager, large, lifer, liger, regal, rifle.

-3 letters: ager, alef, alif, aril, earl, egal, fail, fair, fare, farl, feal, fear, fiar, fila, file, fire, flag, flea, frae, frag, frig, gale, gear, girl, glia.

+1 letter: filagree, finagler, flaggier.

+2 letters: faltering, filagreed, filagrees, finaglers, frangible, lifeguard, pilferage, refalling, reflating.

+3 letters: anglerfish, fiberglass, fibreglass, fingernail, flattering, florilegia, forgivable, grainfield, ladyfinger, lifeguards, persiflage, pilferages, profligate, refloating.

+4 letters: centrifugal, cliffhanger, disgraceful, dragonflies, falteringly, farewelling, farthingale, filagreeing, fingernails, fireballing, firewalling, flagrancies, fragilities, freelancing, freeloading, frugalities, grainfields, infrangible, ladyfingers, lifeguarded, persiflages, profligates, refrangible, reinflating, unfaltering.