Friable

Quick meaning: Friable is an adjective meaning Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.

Meaning

Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder.

More Meanings

1. (geology) Of soil, loose and large-grained in consistency.
2. (toxicology) Of a poison, likely to crumble and become airborne, thus becoming a health risk.
3. (mathematics) Of a number: smooth, that factors completely into small prime numbers.

Example Sentences

It is when asbestos-containing products are friable that hazardous asbestos fibers are likely to be released and sent airborne.

This light, friable type of material offered excellent insulation against both desert heat and also the cold of darkness during the winter.

So while two men under his directions were digging the grave with sticks in the friable granitic soil, he superintended the costume of the other actors in the drama.

Spiders had woven their vague trapezes between the friable heads of dead peonies in enormous glass jars streaked with tide marks where the water had evaporated long ago.

Synonyms for friable

Depending on context, synonyms include crumbly, light, loose, breakable, sandy.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include breakable, loose, sandy, light, brittle, crisp.

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