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Wiktionary
friability

n. The quality of being friable, or easily broken, crumbled, or reduced to powder; friableness.

WordNet
friability

n. excessive breakableness [syn: crumbliness]

Wikipedia
Friability

Friability (pronounced , ""), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to be break into smaller pieces under duress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate.

Substances that are designated hazardous, such as asbestos or crystalline silica, are often said to be friable if small particles are easily dislodged and become airborne, and hence respirable (able to enter human lungs), posing a health hazard.

Tougher substances, such as concrete, may also be mechanically ground down and reduced to finely divided mineral dust. However, such substances are not generally considered friable because of the degree of difficulty involved in breaking the substance's chemical bonds through mechanical means. Some substances, such as polyurethane foams, show an increase in friability with exposure to ultraviolet radiation, such as sunlight.

Friable is sometimes used metaphorically to describe "brittle" personalities who can be "rubbed" by seemingly-minor stimuli to produce extreme emotional responses.

Usage examples of "friability".

But he must allow that the friability of the land must have been originally much greater than now, for hundreds of years.

But already a certain friability was coming over the party, Birkin was mad with irritation, Halliday was turning in an insane hatred against Gerald, the Pussum was becoming hard and cold, like a flint knife, and Halliday was laying himself out to her.

This friability makes the land easier to work, and it is also more easily penetrated by the roots of plants.

These in their decay further influence favorably that friability which is so desirable in soils that are cultivated, and as previously stated, the long, deep roots in their decay exercise a salutary influence on drainage.

It may be plowed under sufficiently early to admit of this, and when so buried it aids in making a fine seed-bed, since the roots promote friability in the land.

On seizing the wall one of these vessels burst, and the hemorrhage was only rendered greater on attempting to secure it, so great was the friability of the walls.

I just don't know about stepping up the growth hormone, Vaagen's so uncertain about its effect on bone friability.