fragility

Language: en

🇺🇸 /frəˈdʒɪlətiː/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The quality or state of being easily broken, damaged, or destroyed; physical delicacy or brittleness.; The condition of being physically weak or frail, especially due to age or illness.; The quality of being emotionally or psychologically vulnerable; susceptibility to being upset or harmed mentally.; The state of being unstable or precarious, especially in reference to systems, economies, or political situations.; The quality of being transient, fleeting, or short-lived; impermanence.; In medicine, a condition in which a patient has a reduced physiological reserve and increased vulnerability to adverse outcomes, often assessed in elderly patients.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable / uncountable Plural: fragilities

Collocations

extreme fragilityfragility of the economybone fragilitystructural fragilityinherent fragility

Derivatives

fragilefragilenessfragilize

Synonyms

frailtydelicacybrittlenessweaknessvulnerabilitytenuousness

Antonyms

strengthrobustnessdurabilitysturdinessresilience

Commonly confused

frailty
EN: 'Frailty' often implies human weakness or moral failing, while 'fragility' emphasizes the quality of being easily broken or damaged, whether physical or abstract.
brittleness
EN: 'Brittleness' specifically refers to a material's tendency to break without deformation, while 'fragility' is broader and can apply to abstract concepts like economies or relationships.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember 'fragility' has only one 'l' (not 'fragillity') and ends in '-ity', not '-ety'. Do not confuse with the adjective 'fragile'.

💬 Examples

  1. The fragility of the ancient glassware required special handling during transport.

  2. Her fragility after the surgery made even short walks exhausting.

  3. The fragility of his self-esteem was evident in how he reacted to the slightest criticism.

  4. The fragility of the global financial system was exposed during the 2008 crisis.

  5. The poem meditated on the fragility of human happiness.

  6. The geriatrician assessed the patient's fragility before recommending surgery.