Refine this word faster
Frail
Definitions
- 1 Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.
"Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away, Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day."
- 2 Weak; infirm.
"Frail smoke of morning in the air and a sort of muffled hum that is not sound but is not silence either."
- 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.
- 1 easily broken or damaged or destroyed wordnet
- 2 wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings wordnet
- 3 physically weak wordnet
- 1 A girl. dated, slang
"She was the roughest, toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale."
- 2 A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins.
- 3 Synonym of farasola (“old unit of weight”).
- 4 Synonym of flail. England, dialectal, obsolete
"The scythe, the sickle and the flail (or "frail", is it is invariably called) - these should surely be incorporated in the county arms, for on their use much of the prosperity of Essex has always rested until now."
- 5 a basket for holding dried fruit (especially raisins or figs) wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail.
- 7 the weight of a frail (basket) full of raisins or figs; between 50 and 75 pounds wordnet
- 8 A rush for weaving baskets.
- 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.
From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.
From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.
From Middle English frayel, from Old French frael, fraiel, of unknown origin; possibly a dissimilatory variant of flael, flaiel (“flail”).
See also for "frail"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: frail