See Also: WEAKNESS

1. As thin of substance as the air —William Shakespeare
2. (Laughter … as) delicate and frail as new ice —Frederick Barthelme
3. (She was) delicate as a pig was not —Pat Conroy
4. Bones frail as a small bird’s —George Garrett
5. Brittle as a dead tree —George Garrett
6. Brittle as dry wood —Miller Williams
7. Brittle as glass that breaks with a touch —Algernon Charles Swinburne
8. Brittle as straw —Ellen Glasgow
9. Brittle as twigs —Margaret Atwood
10. (Her own body seemed) fragile and empty like blown glass —Margaret Atwood
11. Fragile and rather beautiful, like a rare kind of mosquito —Lawrence Durrell
12. Fragile as a bird’s egg —George Garrett
13. Fragile as a chrysalis —John Updike
14. Fragile as a coquillage bouquet —Truman Capote

    Capote’s simile refers to Isak Dinesen.

15. Fragile as a cup —Reynolds Price
16. (Shoulder) fragile as a little bit of glass —Eudora Welty
17. Fragile as ancient lace or parchment —George Garrett
18. Fragile as a reed —Cornelia Otis Skinner
19. (Her conical breasts look) fragile as birds’ eggs —R. V. Cassill
20. Fragile as snowflakes —Sharon Sheehe Stark
21. (She felt very weak and her plump body seemed, somehow, flat and) fragile, like a pressed leaf between the sheets —Helen Hudson
22. Fragile … like a spider’s web —John Fowles
23. Fragile like her good intentions —Marguerite Yourcenar
24. Fragile, like the skin on scalded milk —Sharon Sheehe Stark
25. Frail as a blade of grass —Belva Plain
26. (She felt as) frail as a cobweb —Jonathan Kellerman
27. Frail as a fading friendship —Anon
28. Frail as antique earthenware —Sylvia Plath

    Plath’s simile describes the occupants of an old ladies’ home.

29. Frail as April snow —Wallace Stevens
30. (Breasts rising) frail as blisters —Sharon Olds
31. Frail as flesh —Laman Blanchard
32. [School boys] frail, like thin-boned fledgling birds clamoring for food —Sylvia Berkman
33. I feel [fragile] like a poppy; one gust of wind and everything will blow away —Carla Lane, dialogue, “Solo,” British sitcom, broadcast June 23, 1987

    The reason the character in Lane’s script feels so fragile is that she is a woman in her fifties in a relationship with a much younger man.

34. I felt like a moth hanging on the windowpane —Jacqueline Kennedy, Newsweek, January 21, 1961

    The occasion being described was her first night in the White House.

35. Insubstantial … like fake wedding cakes in a bakery window —lots of whipped cream rosettes and garlands surrounding a hollow middle —Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
36. Like a dry leaf closed into a book, he seemed frail and ready to crumble —Arthur A. Cohen
37. More frail than the shadows on glasses —Algernon Charles Swinburne
38. Promise as solid as a bundle of water —Hindu proverb
39. (Hair and garments) tenuous as gauze —W. D. Snodgrass
40. (You’re so old) you’re like a cup I could break in my hand —Paule Marshall