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
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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.
At the camp, nearly 200 families are crammed into fragile shelters stitched together from straw, torn fabric and sheets of plastic.
From Barron's • Jun. 29, 2026
As she’s gotten older, the Oscar winner has become more comfortable doing less in her performances, allowing for a fragile serenity that is belied by the anguish and anxiety roiling underneath.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026
“Insurance costs, freight rates and political risk are still elevated, while the memorandum is closer to a fragile extension than a durable settlement,” Innes said.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 24, 2026
While news of a ceasefire agreement and a framework to reopen the Strait of Hormuz helped trim the average mortgage rate back to 6.47% last week, according to Freddie Mac, that decrease looks fragile.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
The man I’d fallen in love with looked so fragile, lying there with the covers off, wearing a diaper.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
