frangible
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˈfræn.dʒə.bəl/
:
frágil
- Because the decorations were frangible, she was extra careful when arranging them.
Examples
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Please handle the frangible vase with care so it doesn't break.
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To believe that business-as-usual economic globalization can continue to expand much longer, let alone endlessly, in our relatively small, evidently finite, and noticeably frangible planetary home is magical and wishful thinking of the first order.
Blog text (21) -
Our frangible box separated just as we hoped it would and it's actually kind of a little bit of a pop.
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I'm going to throw out all the little scraps, even my frangible test piece, because I don't want it.
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The part of the cradle around the pivot is frangible, to absorb energy during a bird impact, and to allow for necessary blade deflection in such an encounter.
Academic text (2009) -
How she laughed to think she had not thought of plumbing problems before: this most significant, most sensitive of systems, the very arteries and veins of the house, so vulnerable, so frangible, so dependent on capillary action.
Fiction book (1991) -
The frangible materials used in the model made it lightweight and easy to transport.
Synonyms
188
3.8
Easily broken and needing gentle care
83
3.4
Easily broken or damaged because it is not strong
31
3.9
Hard and likely to break
25
3.8
Thin and not strong so it breaks or tears easily
5
1.3
Easy to damage or fall into pieces
2
8.9
Easily broken into small pieces or powder
1
4.8
Easy to break or damage
Breaks easily into small pieces
Easily broken like old pottery or thin plates
Breaks when pressure is applied
Easy to press so it loses its shape
A thing that people can break or damage so it stops working and is gone
Antonyms
How Fragile
Surface Forms
Morphology
frangible = fragile (transparent) = frag + ible
The meaning is directly derived from the same root as 'fragile' plus the productive suffix '-ible' meaning 'able to be', so learners can infer 'able to be broken'.
Etymology
The word frangible comes from the Latin word frangere, which means 'to break', and it shares the same root as fragile and fragment, so it simply means 'breakable' or easily broken.