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fragile

American  
[fraj-uhl, fraj-ahyl] / ˈfrædʒ əl, ˈfrædʒ aɪl /

adjective

  1. easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail.

    a fragile ceramic container; a very fragile alliance.

  2. vulnerably delicate, as in appearance.

    She has a fragile beauty.

  3. lacking in substance or force; flimsy.

    a fragile excuse.
fragile British  
/ ˈfrædʒaɪl, frəˈdʒɪlɪtɪ /

adjective

  1. able to be broken easily

  2. in a weakened physical state

  3. delicate; light

    a fragile touch

  4. slight; tenuous

    a fragile link with the past
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See frail 1.

Other Word Forms

  • fragilely adverb
  • fragileness noun
  • fragility noun
  • nonfragile adjective
  • nonfragilely adverb
  • nonfragileness noun
  • nonfragility noun
  • overfragile adjective
  • unfragile adjective

Etymology

Origin of fragile

First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin fragilis, equivalent to frag- (variant stem of the verb frangere break ) + -ilis -ile

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.