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
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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.
"Today, something in that fragile equilibrium was broken forever."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
However, the platinum market remains fragile given its reliance on “exceptionally lean and increasingly illiquid” stocks, the council said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
High surf pounded the region’s increasingly fragile coastline from Malibu to San Diego, and experts say it could be only a taste of what is ahead as the El Niño forecast continues to strengthen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Sylvester, sister,” Bernhard coos, “You were so beautiful, you were so fragile, you were so . . . real.”
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
Her illness made me realize how fragile our lives were.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Definitions 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.
