fragilityn.
/frəˈdʒɪlᵻti/, U.S. /frəˈdʒɪlᵻdi/ 1.
a. The quality of being fragile or easily broken; hence, liability to be damaged or destroyed, weakness, delicacy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily weakness > [noun]
wokenessc1000
unstrengthc1175
frailnessa1300
weaknessa1300
brotelhede1340
frailtyc1384
tendernessa1387
slackness1398
unmain?a1400
unmight?a1400
feebility1413
fragility1474
infirmity1590
strengthlessness1666
feebleness1684
akrasia1806
weediness1860
the world > matter > constitution of matter > weakness > [noun] > brittleness or fragility
frailnessa1300
bricklenessa1425
fragility1604
frailty1615
brittleness1669
frangibleness1676
frangibility1783
crackability1810
breakableness1856
brashness1863
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. iii. 170 Hit is not fittynge..for a woman to goo to bataylle for the fragilite and feblenes of her.
1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. Fragilitie, brittlenes, or weakenes.
c1620 F. Bacon Wks. (1857) III. 807 Three things are chiefly to be observed: the colour: the fragility or pliantness: the volatility or fixation.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 25 Man ought not to regard.. Flowers without reflecting..on their Fragility and small Duration.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful iii. §16. 101 An air of robustness and strength is very prejudicial to beauty. An appearance of delicacy, and even of fragility, is almost essential to it.
1866 R. Tate Plain & Easy Acct. Mollusks Great Brit. iv. 131 The shell of this species is..characterized by its extreme thinness and fragility.
b. figurative.
ΚΠ
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 54 That which was left of his bodie..lay, as..the miserable spectacle of mans fragillitie.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 71. ⁋9 General forgetfulness of the fragility of life.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 143. ⁋3 They would..lament..the fragility of beauty.
1886 H. S. Maine Pop. Govt. in Fortn. Rev. N.S. XXXIX. 171 The controversy as to the relative fragility, or the relative difficulty, of popular government and other forms of government.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > [noun] > moral weakness
frailnessa1300
frailtya1340
infirmityc1384
fragility1495
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > erring > errant conduct > [noun] > inclination to
frailnessa1300
frailtya1340
infirmityc1384
fragility1495
1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) i. sig. Aivv/2 In case that bi humayne fragilyte or freyltee thou trespas ayenst the commaundement of almyghty god.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) 167 Adam & Eue..the whiche by theyr fragylyte brake goddes commaundement.
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 273 God condescending to our fragilities.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. viii. 307 Beseeching the Dictatour to forgive this humane fragilitie and youthfull folly of Qu. Fabius.
a1623 H. Swinburne Treat. Spousals (1686) 156 The fragility and mutability of the fæminine Sex considered.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1474