inelastic
Americanadjective
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not elastic; lacking flexibility or resilience; unyielding.
- Synonyms:
- uncompromising, rigid, inflexible
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Economics. relatively unresponsive to changes, as demand when it fails to increase in proportion to a decrease in price.
adjective
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not elastic; not resilient
-
physics (of collisions) involving an overall decrease in translational kinetic energy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inelastic
Explanation
Things that are inelastic are stiff and unbendable. Metal is often inelastic, while rubber generally isn't. If something's elastic, it's flexible and can easily bend back to its original shape. Inelastic is the opposite: Silly Putty is elastic, but a wooden block is inelastic. This adjective is also used figuratively in economics to mean "not changing much in response to variables." If the price of wheat always stayed the same, no matter what, it would be considered inelastic.
Vocabulary lists containing inelastic
Engineering - Introductory
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Economics
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Mechanical Engineering
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Demand for diesel, which powers most trucks, trains and industrial equipment, is more inelastic, but the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration has reported slight declines.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
When demand is inelastic and the social value of consumption is neutral or positive, it doesn’t pay to enforce prohibition.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026
I’m also positive on Vital Farms, the market leader in pasture-raised eggs—an inelastic product at grocery stores.
From Barron's • Oct. 16, 2025
In fact, our working paper suggests that prison demand is not only inelastic but drives incarceration, not the other way around.
From Slate • Jul. 30, 2024
A force which is sufficient to send blood through elastic normal distributing tubes becomes totally insufficient to send the same amount of blood through tortuous and more or less inelastic tubes.
From Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension: with Chapters on Blood Pressure, 3rd Edition. by Warfield, Louis Marshall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
