fragile

Borrowed from Middle French fragile, from Latin fragilis, formed on frag-, the root of frangere (“to break”). Cognate with fraction, fracture and doublet of frail.

• (UK, General Australian, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæd͡ʒaɪl/

  • Audio (Canada):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæd͡ʒəl/

  • Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ædʒaɪl, -ædʒəl
• Hyphenation: fra‧gil

fragile (comparative fragiler or more fragile, superlative fragilest or most fragile)

1. Easily broken, not sturdy; of delicate material.

   She caught the fragile vase before it could shatter on the floor.

   The chemist synthesizes a fragile molecule.

2. (figuratively) Readily disrupted or destroyed.

   The UN tries to maintain the fragile peace process in the region.

3. (UK) Feeling weak or easily disturbed as a result of illness.
4. (UK) Thin-skinned or oversensitive.

   He is a very fragile person and gets easily depressed.

• See also Thesaurus:fragile

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. Something that is fragile.

Borrowed from Latin fragilis. Doublet of frêle.

• IPA^(key): /fʁa.ʒil/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Homophone: fragiles

fragile (plural fragiles)

1. fragile

• saule fragile
• fragilement

• fragiliser
• fragilité

• “fragile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• giflera

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fragile

1. inflection of fragil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Borrowed from Latin fragilem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfra.d͡ʒi.le/
• Rhymes: -adʒile
• Hyphenation: frà‧gi‧le

fragile m or f (plural fragili, superlative fragilissimo)

1. fragile

• fragilmente
• infragilire

• frale
• fragilità

• fragile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• fraglie

fragile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of fragilis