| / English Dictionary |
FRAIL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A basket for holding dried fruit (especially raisins or figs)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("frail" is a kind of...):
basket; handbasket (a container that is usually woven and has handles)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The weight of a frail (basket) full of raisins or figs; between 50 and 75 pounds
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("frail" is a kind of...):
weight; weight unit (a unit used to measure weight)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Easily broken or damaged or destroyed
Example:
a frail craft
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings
Example:
frail humanity
Synonyms:
fallible; frail; imperfect; weak
Classified under:
Similar:
human (having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Physically weak
Example:
an invalid's frail body
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
debile; decrepit; feeble; infirm; rickety; sapless; weak; weakly (lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality)
light-boned (having a bone structure that is light with respect to the surrounding flesh)
Also:
delicate (exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury)
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Antonym:
robust (sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction)
Derivation:
frailness (the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age))
Context examples:
I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
The researchers conclude that promoting a physically active lifestyle could be one of the main strategies to improve vital prognosis among cognitively frail older adults.
(Engaging in physical activity could reduce long-term mortality, University of Granada)
It may be reasonably inferred that our baby will first expire of inanition, as being the frailest member of our circle; and that our twins will follow next in order. So be it!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The frail figure stiffened itself, as though he were visibly bracing himself for an effort.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The skull was of enormous capacity, and yet as I looked down I saw to my amazement that the figure of the man was small and frail, twisted in the shoulders and back like one who has suffered from rickets in his childhood.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The poem swung in majestic rhythm to the cool tumult of interstellar conflict, to the onset of starry hosts, to the impact of cold suns and the flaming up of nebulae in the darkened void; and through it all, unceasing and faint, like a silver shuttle, ran the frail, piping voice of man, a querulous chirp amid the screaming of planets and the crash of systems.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
By some freak of pressures, his frail body had snapped the strong man’s leg like a pipe-stem.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
However, it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped before God’s time.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Against the bailey-walls were rows of frail wooden houses and leaning sheds, which gave shelter to the archers and men-at-arms who formed the garrison.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Never, said he, as he ground his teeth, never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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