fragile

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“
Resistive touch screens have always been this 'fragile' - witness the number of screen protection and polishing kits available from the days of Psion and Palm onwards.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Easily broken, damaged, or destroyed; frail.
  2. adjective Lacking physical or emotional strength; delicate.
  3. adjective Lacking substance; tenuous or flimsy: a fragile claim to fame.
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Examples (50)

  • He couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound like he was calling the fragile-egoed mayor feeble-minded as well The next morning there was another beating; someone who had not yet paid for protection. —  AHMM, October 2006
  • But there are other areas of the world where peace is just as fragile, the future just as uncertain. —  Anderson Independent Mail Stories
  • Because the nutritional situation is still fragile, therapeutic and supplementary feeding remain integrated into the basic health care programs. —  Doctors Without Borders
  • But if you have an ego as gargantuan, fragile, and as in desperate need of validation as mine (and honestly, don't ALL writers?), it can either send you dancing naked through the streets or leave you weeping in the fetal position while you nurse the remaining drops of whiskey from the bottle clutched in your trembling hands. —  Warren Ellis
  • The single long spike looks a bit odd and fragile, as it's so different from the other ones. —  Popular in the last 8 hours
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

frail ·  delicate ·  slender ·  vulnerable ·  precious ·  transparent ·  weak ·  sensitive ·  brittle
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French, from Latin fragilis, from frangere, frag-, to break; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French fragile = Provencal fragil, fragel = Spanish fragil = Portuguese fragil = Italian fragile, from Latin fragilis, easily broken, brittle, frail, from frangere (√*frag), break: see fraction. Doublet, frail, q. v.
 

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/ˈfrædʒɪl/
by American Heritage

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