frangible

comparative more frangible · superlative most frangible

1. Able to be broken; breakable, fragile.First known use early 15th c.

   Another object still [of roasting iron ore], is to make the ore more frangible, that it may be easily broken into fragments of a suitable size for smelting.

   1838, W[illiam] W[illiams] Mather, “Iron Ore”, in First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, Columbus, Oh.: Samuel Medary, printer to the State, →OCLC, footnote, page 7

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   A certain learned and curious Author gives us the following Characters or Properties of Glaſs, whereby it is diſtinguiſh'd from all other Bodies, viz. […] That it is frangible when thin, without annealing.

   1734, “GLASS”, in The Builder’s Dictionary: Or, Gentlemen and Architect’s Companion. Explaining not only the Term of Art in All the Several Parts of Architecture, but also Containing the Theory and Practice of the Various Branches thereof, … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[rthur] Bettesworth and C[harles] Hitch, at the Red-Lion in Pater-noster-Row; and S[tephen] Austen, at the Angel and Bible in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC, column 1

   Folklorists claim that the superstitious belief that opening an umbrella indoors augurs misfortune has a more recent and utilitarian origin. In eighteenth-century London, when metal-spoked waterproof umbrellas began to become a common rainy-day sight, their stiff, clumsy spring mechanism made them veritable hazards to open indoors. A rigidly spoked umbrella, opening suddely in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a child, or shatter a frangible object.

   1989, Charles Panati, “From Superstition”, in Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things (Perennial Library), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 16

   So, to make sure that I stay both current and deadly, I built the range, where the guys can sharpen their lethal talents, and—careful always to use only approved military weapons—I can sharpen mine. Shooting, after all, is a frangible skill. At SEAL Team Six we shot daily.

   1998 March, Richard Marcinko, John Weisman, “Part Two: Trust but Verify”, in Destination Gold (Rogue Warrior), New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 183

   Synonyms: fragmentable

plural frangibles

1. Something that is breakable or fragile; especially something that is intentionally made so, such as a bullet.

   Is there some law of nature that states that an assassin can only use one kind of ammunition? Couldn't he just as easily load a frangible bullet and a nonfrangible one into his magazine as two frangibles or two regular, hardened rounds?

   2012, G. Paul Chambers, Head Shot: The Science behind the JFK Assassination, expanded edition, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, →ISBN

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   For extreme close range training, frangible bullets – those that disintegrate on hitting a hard target – are available. I have found the Winchester frangible loads especially suitable to high-volume training with the 9mm pistol. Frangibles are intended to give peace officers real safety when training at close range with steel reaction targets and vehicles used as range props.

   2009, Robert K. Campbell, “Practice Tools”, in Dan Shideler, editor, The Gun Digest Book of Personal Protection & Home Defense, Iola, Wis.: Gun Digest Books, →ISBN, page 201, column 2

   Like other lethal-use frangibles, it is designed exclusively for use against soft targets. The "projectile" is composed of tungsten powder encapsulated by a traditional copper jacket. The powdered medium itself does not comprise a solid-mass projectile, per se, but it is tightly packed and contained within the jacket, which acts as the container. Like all frangible projectiles, these projectiles return to powder when impacting an object.

   2013, Robert E. Walker, “Ammunition Cartridges”, in Cartridges and Firearm Identification (Advances in Materials Science and Engineering), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 82