noun
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physical or moral weakness
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(often plural) a fault symptomatic of moral weakness
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of frailty
1300–50; Middle English frailte, frelete < Old French frailete < Latin fragilitāt- (stem of fragilitās ). See frail 1, -ity
Explanation
Frailty describes a quality that's shared by a sick kitten, an elderly man, and a shoddily built go cart. They all have a delicate weakness or vulnerability and seem to require some kind of care. The Old French fraileté, or "weakness" is the root of frailty, and it in turn comes from the Latin word for "fragile," fragilis. What's interesting is that "fragility" was used in the 14th century to mean a kind of moral, rather than physical, weakness. Today frailty can be used this way too, to describe a state of having shaky — or fragile — morals.
Vocabulary lists containing frailty
The Kite Runner
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Twelfth Night
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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.
See Examples For:
With or without other age-related medical conditions like heart disease, hypertension, frailty or Parkinson’s disease, you may experience a psychological as well as a physical spiral.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Top officials don’t lean on their wives for fear of showing any signs of frailty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Because GLP-1 drugs reduce appetite and food intake, they may also contribute to nutritional deficiencies and loss of muscle, potentially increasing the risk of frailty and other long-term health issues.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Oliver wrote powerful poems about human frailty but spent her days in the woods writing about nature, which she loved as much as she did language.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Determined not to let his frailty and his stature stand in his way, in high school he went out for every sport he could think of, mastering none but playing all of them tenaciously.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Even Iran’s “moderate” diplomats don’t suffer these frailties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
But did the Lakers fall in love with his legend and ignore his frailties?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Having explored reasons why England's on-the-ball tactics contributed to defensive frailties, it makes sense to look at how they set up off the ball.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
It is time to face the fact that Gregg failed to put the death penalty on a sound footing and that nothing can improve on Gregg’s frailties.
From Slate ● Jun. 8, 2026
He told his son of the sad dignity that can belong to a soldier, how he is necessary in the light of all the failures of man—the penalty of our frailties.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
