| Main Entry: | insubstantial |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | weak, imaginary |
Synonyms: |
aerial, airy, chimerical, decrepit, ephemeral, false, fanciful, feeble, flimsy, fly-by-night, fragile, frail, idle, illusory, immaterial, imponderable, incorporeal, infirm, intangible, metaphysical, petty, poor, puny, slender, slight, tenuous, thin, too little too late, unreal, unsound, unsubstantial |
Antonyms: |
real, strong, substantial |
| Main Entry: | decrepit |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deteriorated, debilitated, especially as a result of age |
Synonyms: |
aged, anile, antiquated, battered, bedraggled, broken-down, creaky, crippled, dilapidated, doddering, effete, feeble, flimsy, fragile, frail, haggard, incapacitated, infirm, insubstantial, old, quavering, ramshackle, rickety, run-down, seedy, senile, shabby, shaking, superannuated, tacky, threadbare, tired, tottering, tumble-down, unsound, used, wasted, weak, weakly, weather-beaten, worn, worn-out |
Antonyms: |
fit, healthy, young |
| Main Entry: | elusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
Synonyms: |
ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
Antonyms: |
attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| Main Entry: | ethereal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | delicate, heavenly |
Synonyms: |
aerial, airy, celestial, dainty, divine, empyreal, empyrean, exquisite, fairy, filmy, fine, gaseous, ghostly, gossamer, impalpable, insubstantial, intangible, light, rarefied, refined, spiritual, sublime, subtle, supernal, tenuous, unearthly, unsubstantial, unworldly, vaporous, vapory |
Antonyms: |
earthly, indelicate, worldly |
| Main Entry: | feeble |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not strong; ineffective |
Synonyms: |
aged, ailing, chicken*, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, doddering, dopey, effete, emasculated, enervated, enfeebled, etiolated, exhausted, failing, faint, flabby, flat, fragile, frail, gentle, helpless, impotent, inadequate, incompetent, indecisive, ineffectual, inefficient, infirm, insubstantial, insufficient, lame, languid, low, out of gas, paltry, poor, powerless, puny, sapless, sickly, slight, strengthless, tame, thin, unconvincing, vitiated, weak, weakened, weakly, wimpy, woozy, zero* |
Antonyms: |
able, effective, hardy, healthy, hearty, powerful, solid, sound, strong |
| Main Entry: | filmy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | finespun, fragile |
Synonyms: |
chiffon, cobwebby, dainty, delicate, diaphanous, fine, fine-grained, flimsy, floaty, gauzy, gossamer, insubstantial, see-through, sheer, tiffany, transparent, wispy |
Antonyms: |
nontransparent, opaque, substantial |
| Main Entry: | flimsy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not strong; light, thin |
Synonyms: |
chiffon, cut-rate, decrepit, defective, delicate, diaphanous, feeble, fragile, frail, gauzy, gossamer, house of cards, inadequate, infirm, insubstantial, meager, papery, rickety, rinkydink, shaky, shallow, sheer, slapdash, sleazy, slight, superficial, tacky, transparent, unsound, unsubstantial, weak, wobbly |
Antonyms: |
firm, heavy, solid, strong, sturdy, substantial, thick, tough |
| Main Entry: | fragile |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | breakable, dainty |
Synonyms: |
brittle, crisp, crumbly, decrepit, delicate, feeble, fine, flimsy, fracturable, frail, frangible, friable, infirm, insubstantial, shatterable, shivery, slight, unsound, weak, weakly |
Antonyms: |
durable, firm, strong, tough, unbreakable |
| Main Entry: | frail |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | breakable, weak |
Synonyms: |
brittle, dainty, decrepit, delicate, feeble, fishy, flimsy, fracturable, fragile, frangible, infirm, insubstantial, puny, sad, shatterable, shattery, sickly, slender, slight, slim, tender, tenuous, thin, unsound, unsubstantial, vulnerable, wimpy, wishy-washy, wispy |
Antonyms: |
firm, strong, unbreakable |
| Main Entry: | gauzy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | see-through, gossamer in texture |
Synonyms: |
delicate, diaphanous, filmy, flimsy, insubstantial, light, lucid, pellucid, sheer, thin, tiffany, translucent, transparent |
Antonyms: |
cloudy, foggy, heavy, obscured, opaque, thick |