fragile. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

fragile

SYLLABICATION:	frag·ile
PRONUNCIATION:	frjl, -l
ADJECTIVE:	1. Easily broken, damaged, or destroyed; frail. 2. Lacking physical or emotional strength; delicate. 3. Lacking substance; tenuous or flimsy: a fragile claim to fame.
ETYMOLOGY:	French, from Old French, from Latin fragilis, from frangere, frag-, to break. See bhreg- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	fragile·ly —ADVERB fra·gili·ty (fr-jl-t) , fragile·ness —NOUN
SYNONYMS:	fragile, breakable, frangible, delicate, brittle These adjectives mean easily broken or damaged. Fragile applies to objects that are not made of strong or sturdy material and that require great care when handled: fragile porcelain plates. Breakable and frangible mean capable of being broken but do not necessarily imply inherent weakness: breakable toys; frangible artifacts. Delicate refers to what is so soft, tender, or fine as to be susceptible to injury: delicate fruit. Brittle refers to inelasticity that makes something especially likely to fracture or snap when it is subjected to pressure: brittle bones. See also synonyms at weak.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.