Link Centre Dictionary

fragile

fra·gile

UK/ˈfɹæd͡ʒaɪl/ US/ˈfɹæd͡ʒəl/ fairly common uk

adjective

1.

easily broken or damaged or destroyed

  • “a kite too delicate to fly safely”
  • “fragile porcelain plates”
  • “fragile old bones”
  • “a frail craft”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

vulnerably delicate

  • “she has the fragile beauty of youth”
Similar
3.

lacking solidity or strength

  • “a flimsy table”
  • “flimsy construction”
  • “a fragile link with the past”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French fragile, from Latin fragilis, formed on frag-, the root of frangere (“to break”). Cognate with fraction, fracture and doublet of frail.

Phrases

  • fragile masculinity
  • fragile X syndrome
  • warmblood fragile foal syndrome

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.