Definition of "friable" [fri•a•ble]

• Readily crumbled; brittle: friable asbestos insulation. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It is, however, never justifiable deliberately to break a friable foreign body with the hope that the fragments will be expelled, for these may be aspirated into small bronchi, and cause multiple abscesses."
• "And then there's non-friable, which is generally found on the inside and does become easily airborne."
• "There's friable, which is generally found on the outside of the buildings and doesn't become easily airborne."