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View synonyms for brittle

brittle

[ brit-l ]

adjective

, brit·tler, brit·tlest.
  1. having hardness and rigidity but little tensile strength; breaking readily with a comparatively smooth fracture, as glass.

    Synonyms: fragile

  2. easily damaged or destroyed; fragile; frail:

    a brittle marriage.

  3. lacking warmth, sensitivity, or compassion; aloof; self-centered:

    a self-possessed, cool, and rather brittle person.

  4. having a sharp, tense quality:

    a brittle tone of voice.

  5. unstable or impermanent; evanescent.


noun

  1. a confection of melted sugar, usually with nuts, brittle when cooled:

    peanut brittle.

verb (used without object)

, brit·tled, brit·tling.
  1. to be or become brittle; crumble.

brittle

/ ˈbrɪtəl /

adjective

  1. easily cracked, snapped, or broken; fragile
  2. curt or irritable

    a brittle reply

  3. hard or sharp in quality
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. a crunchy sweet made with treacle and nuts

    peanut brittle

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

brittle

/ brĭtl /

  1. Having a tendency to break when subject to high stress. Brittle materials have undergone very little strain when they reach their elastic limit, and tend to break at that limit.
  2. Compare ductile


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Derived Forms

  • ˈbrittlely, adverb
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Other Words From

  • brittle·ness noun
  • un·brittle adjective
  • un·brittle·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of brittle1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English britel, equivalent to brit- (akin to Old English brysten “fragment”) + -el adjective suffix
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Word History and Origins

Origin of brittle1

C14: from Old English brytel (unattested); related to brytsen fragment, brēotan to break
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Synonym Study

See frail 1.
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Example Sentences

The old dam on New Hampshire’s Second Connecticut Lake is caked with brittle crusty ice when I arrive, and the surrounding hills shrouded in fresh snow.

Slight or seemingly random perturbations to a dataset—often undetectable by the human eye—can enormously alter the final output, something dubbed “brittle” for an algorithm.

More commonly, the root can be dug, washed, chopped, and roasted until brittle to create a steeping mixture that can be used like coffee grounds.

Even the denser rocks are much more porous and brittle than meteorites from similar asteroids that have been found on Earth.

However during later times after the Industrial Age, craftsmen were able to achieve higher temperatures for impurity removal, and they further improved upon the process by mixing carbon that made the brittle iron stronger.

Instead of being strong and resilient, bones become weak and brittle.

The way to fight being brittle—to keep the disease at bay—is to work at being limber.

Brittle egos are bolstered less by what they love about themselves than what they find contemptible in others.

But freedom is a beautifully brittle spirit balancing on a narrow strip of the intellectual spectrum.

Her many style tics—stacked one atop the other—read as code for narcissism, self-indulgence, and brittle self-absorption.

More like the noise of powdering an iron bar on a nutmeg-grater, suggested Brittle.

At this time the leaves are very brittle and unless the cutter is an experienced hand much injury may be done to the leaves.

There was so little rain during the hot months that things became dry and brittle.

The rubber is much like tough, heavy dough—there is not much stretch to it and in a cold place it would become hard and brittle.

Light round targets were brought them, and in the place of pointed lances, long brittle reeds.

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Brittenbrittle bone disease