adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a fragile environment (= easily damaged or destroyed )
▪
Many people are worried about the impact of tourism on the region’s fragile environment.
a fragile peace (= not likely to last )
▪
The fragile peace between the government and the student protestors broke when military police arrested their leader.
fragile (= weak and likely to become worse )
▪
The country’s fragile economy depends almost exclusively on tourism.
fragile (= weak or damaged, and in danger of being destroyed completely )
▪
Exploring for oil will damage the island’s fragile ecology.
mark sth personal/fragile/urgent etc
▪
a document marked ‘confidential’
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪
These may be characterised as fragile caring units of mutual support.
▪
Kip was as fragile as he was sturdy.
▪
But they are heavy, and as fragile as a Centurion tank.
▪
Perhaps the world has never seen a power as fragile as that of the imam.
how
▪
You know how fragile your bones get.
▪
But I now understand how fragile its mighty wilderness really is.
▪
I reminded her how fragile it was.
▪
We will continue to cry at weddings because we know how bittersweet, how fragile is the troth.
▪
They did not seem to realise how fragile the ceremony was.
▪
Often enough, something would happen to remind us of how fragile her existence was.
▪
We probably don't need Jan Pahl's pioneering research to tell us how fragile conjugal consensus is.
▪
Much has been learned since Jan. 17, 1994, mostly how fragile and unpredictable life is.
more
▪
This crab is preserved in a rather soft clay, which makes it more fragile than the other crabs in this book.
▪
New brick houses were being built to replace prettier but more fragile jhumpas.
▪
She was cleverer than either of them, more elusive, more fragile .
▪
So Hsu Fu was both more fragile and at the same time attempting to travel farther than most rafts.
▪
The Wall Street crash of 1929 showed that large scale industry is more fragile than crofting.
▪
Not even the fading bruise high on her cheekbone detracted from her beauty; she only looked more fragile .
▪
This needs serious appraisal because it may indicate that recovery is far more fragile than might have been appreciated.
▪
But opposition sources say that government control of internet use is more fragile than it might appear.
most
▪
This is the largest group and also the most fragile .
▪
The first hears the most fragile sounds of the passing countryside, the other knows he is capable of the swiftest speed.
▪
Industrial organizations are amongst the most fragile in the world.
so
▪
If a conventional game can appear so fragile , how much more so does drama with its less explicit rules.
▪
She looked so fragile and blue.
▪
Alexander Reza, at the turn of the century, had done work resembling this, but never anything so fragile .
▪
With her arms looped around my neck, she felt so fragile and small.
▪
So momentous, so fragile , so transient.
▪
Husky grains dangled from the rice plants, so fragile and awkward they almost looked bashful.
▪
Her bones were so fragile that she would break her thumb just by leaning on her walking stick.
too
▪
Shellac records were simply too fragile to be posted; so the special circumstances of war justified the first vinyl records.
▪
In that direction lay a hope too fragile to be exposed - even to herself.
▪
But most deep sea life is too fragile to survive such handling.
▪
She was too fragile to form an alliance with large, strong, fully made Deborah.
▪
She crossed her legs on a chair too fragile to accommodate such thighs, too straight for her hips.
▪
He seemed too fragile and ancient to battle the biting winds that howled perpetually around the base of the Tower.
▪
Cardiff residents have complained that the nearby bluffs are too fragile to withstand the pounding of more trains running close by.
very
▪
It is very fragile and dies quickly outside the body.
▪
Great care and attention should be given during transplantation as the plants are very fragile .
▪
The existence of two rival regimes will create instability in an already very fragile legal framework.
▪
This plan usually falls down because the Wolf Riders are vulnerable to shooting and because small units of Goblins are very fragile .
▪
It means: this one is very fragile .
▪
They were very chaste, their lives felt very fragile at the moment.
■ NOUN
economy
▪
The revolution deterred visitors to Madeira and adversely affected the already fragile economy .
health
▪
Loneliness, fragile health and homelessness are just a few of the problems they face without our help.
peace
▪
A fragile peace ending the seven-year civil war has been in place since last July.
▪
The fragile peace has not dispelled old RussianChechen suspicions.
state
▪
It gave him a shock in his fragile state .
▪
In her present fragile state , an inquisition, nomatterhow well-intentioned, would have shattered her into a million pieces.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Ed's already fragile health deteriorated after he left the hospital.
▪
Sandra knew just what to say to protect Mike's fragile ego.
▪
The baby felt so fragile in his arms.
▪
The museum sends fragile porcelain objects to specialists to be restored.
▪
The parcel was marked FRAGILE -- HANDLE WITH CARE.
▪
This is an environmentally fragile area.
▪
Two ambulance attendants picked up his fragile body and put him carefully onto a stretcher.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And in her heart she allowed hope to blossom into fragile life again.
▪
It could do considerable damage if it happened to hit some of the more fragile equipment.
▪
It is life sculpted by extreme and hostile conditions, life that is fragile and all but unknown.
▪
Perhaps the world has never seen a power as fragile as that of the imam.
▪
The area also has a range of fragile eco-systems and rare plants including button grass, alpine meadow and snow gum.
▪
These people can take many blows, but I, I am fragile as a butterfly.
▪
They are often shy, fragile , and preoccupied with feelings of self-doubt.
▪
This was Abba's tour de force, a brilliantly structured melodrama which put Faltskog's fragile , emotional vocal centre stage.