friableness

Tendency to crumble

The quality of being easily crumbled or reduced to powder.

Soil with good friableness breaks apart readily in the hand.

The term appears in technical contexts—agriculture, pharmacology, geology—where the tendency of materials to fragment matters: The friableness of theiteite made extraction difficult.

Friability is the more common noun form.

crumbly

crumble

Fragment gradually

disintegrateBreak into fragments
flakyCrumbly or unreliable
powderyReduced to fine particles

granular · pulverulent · sandy · dusty · gritty · loose · earthy · mealy · shortbread · feta

brittle

shatter

Fragment violently, suddenly

splinterThin sharp fragment
fractureSplit in hard material
snapSudden sharp sound

crack · crisp · rigid · brittleness · shards · fragmented · breakage · crunchy · chips · frangible

geological

erosion

Gradual wearing away

sedimentParticles settling in liquid
siltWaterborne earth particles
clayMoldable earth for ceramics

sandstone · shale · marl · limestone · talc · gypsum · weathering · decomposition

Opposites

material cohesion

friablenesscohesiveness

State of being unified

cohesion · toughness · solidity · firmness · hardness

material density and compactness

friablenessdenseness

Crowded or stupid quality

compactness · density · solidness · impermeability · consolidation

Family

friable, friability

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Rated G