breakable meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

breakable

adj

/ˈbɹeɪkəbəl/

Etymology From break + -able.

Able to break or be broken.

The accident was also one of several since Clapham […] that demonstrated the role of breakable windows in the death toll. RSSB research would later confirm and reinforce the need for laminated glass to protect passengers and increase survivability.2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 42:

Fragile.

Next Christmas she sent us bisque dolls, very lovely but too breakable to hug; we could not even kiss them but they cracked.1942, Emily Carr, “Ways of Getting Round”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

Synonyms: frangible, fragile
Antonyms: unbreakable
Derived terms: breakableness, breakably, nonbreakable

breakable

noun

Etymology From break + -able.

Something that is (easily) breakable.

We had to wrap all the breakables before the movers arrived.
She was, she wrote, “impatient and absent-minded, prone to drop things intentionally or through clumsiness, even breakables like dishes and love affairs; a woman who is perennially on the move, changing jobs and homes at the drop of a hat and inventing reasons afterward while she is packing; a person who runs away as soon as she gets nervous, long before she smells danger.”2020 October 16, Sam Roberts, “Ruth Kluger, Author of a Haunting Holocaust Memoir, Dies at 88”, in The New York Times:

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music Plural normally A set of customized hardware that is part of a drum kit. Breakables typically consist of: the drummer's cymbals including high-hats, the snare drum, the kick pedal and the drummer's stool.