Friable

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Friable \Fri"a*ble\, a. [L. friabilis, fr. friare to rub, break,
     or crumble into small pieces, cf. fricare to rub, E. fray:
     cf. F. friable.]
     Easily crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder. "Friable
     ground." --Evelyn. "Soft and friable texture." --Paley. --
     {Fri'a*ble*ness}, n.


     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  friable
       adj 1: easily broken into small fragments or reduced to powder;
              "friable sandstone"; "friable carcinomatous tissue";
              "friable curds formed in the stomach"
       2: (used of soil) loose and large-grained in consistency;
          "light sandy soil" [syn: {light}, {sandy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  27 Moby Thesaurus words for "friable":
     breakable, brittle, brittle as glass, crackable, crimp, crisp,
     crispy, crumbly, crump, crushable, delicate, fissile, flimsy,
     fracturable, fragile, frail, frangible, lacerable, pulverizable,
     pulverulent, scissile, shatterable, shattery, shivery, splintery,
     triturable, vulnerable