English Explanatory Dictionary

brittle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact.
  2. Not physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.
  3. Tending to fracture in a conchoidal way; capable of being knapped or flaked.
  4. Emotionally fragile, easily offended.
  5. Poorly error- or fault-tolerant; having little in the way of redundancy or defense in depth; susceptible to catastrophic failure in the event of a relatively-minor malfunction or deviance.
  6. Characterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.
noun
  1. A confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.
  2. Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.
verb
  1. To become brittle.
  2. To gut.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɹɪtl̩/ en-us-brittle.ogg

Word forms

brittle brittler more brittle brittlest most brittle brittles brittling brittled

Etymology

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

Synonyms

crackly brickle embrittle

Antonyms

tough pliable

Related words

embrittlement

Derived words

brittility brittle bone disease brittlebush brittle cinder brittle fracture brittlegill brittle hair syndrome brittlely brittleness brittle star brittlestem brittly embrittle nonbrittle quasibrittle Sabinas brittle hair syndrome unbrittle work-brittle peanut brittle
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