Frail Meaning
/fɹeɪl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjEasily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.
adjWeak; infirm.
Sentence Examples
My grandmother was gradually becoming forgetful and frail.
He was too frail to play games outdoors.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ old woman could not carry her own shopping bags.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ old bridge creaked under the weight of the vehicle, making everyone inside feel quite nervous.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away,
Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day."
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
"Its nest is composed of the frailest materials, and is light and small in proportion to the size of the bird"
— 1831, John James Audubon, Ornithological Biography: Volume 1: Blue-grey Fly-catcher:
"Frail smoke of morning in the air and a sort of muffled hum that is not sound but is not silence either."
— 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:
"O as the soft and frail lights break upon your eyelids"
— 1922, Isaac Rosenberg, Dawn:
"She was the roughest, toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale."
— 1931, Cab Calloway, Irving Mills, Minnie the Moocher:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ old woman could not carry her own shopping bags.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ old bridge creaked under the weight of the vehicle, making everyone inside feel quite nervous.