fragile
Americanadjective
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easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail.
a fragile ceramic container; a very fragile alliance.
-
vulnerably delicate, as in appearance.
She has a fragile beauty.
-
lacking in substance or force; flimsy.
a fragile excuse.
adjective
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able to be broken easily
-
in a weakened physical state
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delicate; light
a fragile touch
-
slight; tenuous
a fragile link with the past
Synonym Usage
See frail 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fragile
First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin fragilis, equivalent to frag- (variant stem of the verb frangere break ) + -ilis -ile
Explanation
If it's delicate and easily broken, like a rare glass vase or the feelings of an overly emotional friend, it's certainly fragile. Back in the 1500s, fragile implied moral weakness. Then around 1600, its definition broadened to mean “liable to break.” It wasn’t until the 19th century that the word started to mean “frail” and was used to describe people. Today we use it to describe things like spider webs, unstable political systems, and insecure egos. Synonyms include flimsy, vulnerable, and brittle.
Vocabulary lists containing fragile
Give Me a Break!: Fract and Frag
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The leather-jacket keynotes made Nvidia a legend, and they also made it fragile.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026
She described him as having "fragile mental health" and said his "frustrations with school" and "managing the stricter rules" were the main causes of his stress and anxiety.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
“If I keep my language and culture in a fragile little jar, someone will come along and trample it, and it will disappear forever,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026
Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute, said that Eisenkot would face an especially fragile government if it only has 48 lawmakers, even if others promise to keep it in power.
From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026
This fragile thing held all his hopes and dreams.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
