Fragility
The state or quality of being easily broken or damaged; the vulnerability or delicacy of something.
nounFragility
The state or quality of being easily broken or damaged; the vulnerability or delicacy of something.
nounImagine This
Imagine a centuries-old porcelain vase on a museum shelf. A light breeze from an open door makes the vase tremble, and the guard hesitates, knowing a single misstep could shatter it. This is fragility personified.
Sounds Like
fruh-JIL-ih-tee
Looks Like
Resembles the adjective 'fragile' and ends with -ity, indicating a state or condition.
Remember This
Fragility describes vulnerability to damage in objects or systems, not moral weakness. The related adjective is fragile; fragility is the noun form.
Other Forms
Connect With
delicacy, vulnerability, frailty, brittleness, susceptibility
Note
Use fragility to talk about how easily something can be harmed or broken, or how easily a system could fail. Do not confuse with 'frailty' (often about weakness of character) or with 'fragileness' (less common).
Study Deeper
- The fragility of the ancient vase required it to be kept in a climate-controlled display case.
- Investors monitored the fragility of the economy as concerns about a downturn intensified.
From Latin fragilitas, from fragilis 'fragile' (easily broken); related to frangere 'to break'.
Fragility = fragile + ity. Visualize a delicate glass bottle with a tag that says ITY, reminding you that the quality of being fragile is fragility.
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Surrender
verbTo yield or give up control, possession, or resistance; to submit to someone else's authority or to the outcome.
Embellish
verbTo decorate or add details to something to make it more attractive; also used to mean exaggerating or embellishing a story.
Abridge
verbTo shorten (a text, speech, or other work) by omitting parts; to condense.
Similar Words
Related words and words with the same part of speech.
Abasement
nounThe act or instance of humiliating or degrading someone; the state of being lowered in dignity or status.
Absurdity
nounThe quality or state of being wildly unreasonable, illogical, or ridiculous; something that is completely contrary to reason or common sense.
Accent
nounA distinctive way of pronouncing words; the act of emphasizing a syllable or word (as a verb, to accent means to emphasize).
Accolade
nounAn honor; a public expression of praise or an award.
Acrimony
nounBitterness of speech or manner; ill feeling
Acronym
nounA word formed from the initial letters of a phrase, pronounced as a single word and used as a shorthand for the full name (for example, NASA or radar).