Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition or quality of being frail; weakness; infirmity; frailty.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Frailty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being frail; frailty; weakness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The frailness of Vishneva's Giselle is always apparent in a way that truly makes you fear for her.

    Mariinsky's 'Giselle': Less is more Sarah Kaufman 2011

  • Elsinore, one moment overtoppling her slender frailness, the next moment splashing a hundred tons of water on her deck and flinging her skyward as they passed beneath and foamed and crested from sight in the murky gray to leeward.

    CHAPTER XXXIV 2010

  • Her thinness and her oldness are the sum total of her frailness.

    Joe Woodward: Joan Didion: Late in Life Joe Woodward 2012

  • Her thinness and her oldness are the sum total of her frailness.

    Joe Woodward: Joan Didion: Late in Life Joe Woodward 2012

  • Rather than realize the frailness of the human condition, each mishap reinforced our belief that we were invincible or at least perpetually lucky.

    Risk, Adventure Are Parts of Life—Sometimes Too Much 2012

  • Her little pink and white face looked unusually small under its crown of silvery hair, and there was a frailness about her that caught sharply at Inspector Curry's heart.

    Twin Moons 2010

  • Whether we are an armchair traveler exploring virtual worlds, or a mountaineer in search of the next highest peak, through our imaginations we have exceeded the frailness of our bodies, but perhaps not as easily our propensity for boredom.

    Kiša Lala: Space Architecture Kiša Lala 2010

  • Whether we are an armchair traveler exploring virtual worlds, or a mountaineer in search of the next highest peak, through our imaginations we have exceeded the frailness of our bodies, but perhaps not as easily our propensity for boredom.

    Kiša Lala: Space Architecture Kiša Lala 2010

  • I think that belief comes from a (probably unconscious) residually sexist belief system, one in which we must protect the virtue and frailness of womanhood.

    GOP Consultant On CNN: Sometimes It's "Accurate" To Call A Woman A "Bitch" 2009

  • I knew I'd love that little thing once I got on my feet, got used to it's peculiar frailness and mewling cries, figured out what was going on a little.

    Archive 2007-03-01 kittenpie 2007

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