Meaning & use
breakable
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparable
Able to be broken or damaged easily, especially because the material is thin or fragile.
Grammar: Describes a quality of an object; it is not usually used with 'more' or 'most'.
Patterns
- breakable object
- be breakable
- easily breakable
Please wrap the breakable dishes in bubble wrap before putting them in the box.
The toy is made of thin plastic and is easily breakable.
We keep breakable items on the top shelf so children cannot reach them.
Common combinations
- breakable items
- The moving company charged extra for breakable items.
- easily breakable
- This glass is easily breakable, so handle it with care.
- breakable material
- Porcelain is a breakable material that needs careful packing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fragile
- Fragile is more formal and often suggests delicacy; breakable is plainer and focuses on the possibility of breaking.
- delicate
- Delicate emphasizes fineness and the need for gentle handling, while breakable simply means it can break.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: breakable or brittle?
breakable vs brittle
Brittle means hard but likely to snap rather than bend; breakable just means it can break.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'breakable' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 correctly uses 'breakable' as an adjective describing the vase. Option 1 uses it as a verb, which is wrong. Option 2 is incorrect because bendable metal is not typically described as breakable. Option 3 uses it as a noun, which is not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “breakable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.