Meaning & use
fragile breakable
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Easily damaged or destroyed; needing careful handling.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a fragile glass; the glass is fragile.
Patterns
- a fragile object
- be fragile
- extremely fragile
This old mirror is fragile, so carry it with both hands.
Their agreement is fragile and could end at any moment.
Fragile goods are packed in thick foam before shipping.
adjectivecomparable
Able to be broken, especially when dropped or hit.
Grammar: Often used before a noun; also after be: the toy is breakable.
Patterns
- a breakable item
- be breakable
- easily breakable
Please keep breakable items away from the edge of the table.
The cups are breakable, so we wash them by hand.
Anything breakable should go in the top box, not at the bottom.
Word forms
| comparative | more fragile |
|---|---|
| superlative | most fragile |
| comparative | more breakable |
| superlative | most breakable |
Common combinations
- fragile health
- After the long illness, his fragile health needed months of rest.
- a fragile peace
- The fragile peace between the two sides lasted only a year.
- fragile economy
- Investors worried about the fragile economy and sold their shares.
- breakable objects
- Store breakable objects on a low shelf so children cannot reach them.
- breakable material
- Thin glass is a very breakable material for a child's toy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delicate
- Suggests something needs gentle, skillful handling and may also be beautiful or finely made, while fragile simply means easily damaged.
- brittle
- Describes something hard that snaps or cracks rather than bends, such as old plastic; fragile is wider and covers glass, health, or peace.
- frail
- Used mainly of people, especially older or sick people, meaning physically weak; it does not usually describe objects.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: fragile breakable or fragile vs frail? fragile breakable or breakable vs broken?
fragile breakable vs fragile vs frail
Fragile can describe objects, health, or agreements, but frail is used mostly about weak people or bodies.
fragile breakable vs breakable vs broken
Breakable means it can be broken; broken means it already is.
Practice
Which sentence uses the adjectives correctly?
Choose one answer.
A fragile box is easily damaged, and the glasses inside can be broken, so breakable fits them. Option 1 reverses the ideas, option 2 talks about glasses that are already broken, and option 3 wrongly describes steel as fragile.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fragile breakable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.