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frail

Pronunciation: /fɹeɪl/

The English word “frail” has 12 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.
  2. Weak; infirm.
  3. In an infirm state leading one to be easily subject to disease or other health problems, especially regarding the elderly.
  4. Mentally fragile.
  5. Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; unchaste.

noun

  1. A girl.
  2. A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins.
  3. The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail.
  4. A rush for weaving baskets.
  5. Synonym of farasola (“old unit of weight”).
  6. Synonym of flail.

verb

  1. To play a stringed instrument, usually a banjo, by picking with the back of a fingernail.

Etymology

From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.