Brittle
['brɪt(ə)l] or ['brɪtl]
Definition
(noun.) caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets.
(adj.) having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped; 'brittle bones'; 'glass is brittle'; '`brickle' and `brickly' are dialectal' .
(adj.) (of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured .
(adj.) lacking warmth and generosity of spirit; 'a brittle and calculating woman' .
Checker: Marge--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Easily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious.
Edited by Lancelot
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Fragile, crumbling, shivery, frail, frangible, BRASH, easily broken (into pieces), easily shivered.
Typed by Jack
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See FRAGILE]
Inputed by Alisa
Definition
adj. apt to break: easily broken: frail.—ns. Britt′leness; Britt′le-stars or Sand-stars one of the classes of Echinodermata including forms not far removed from starfishes.
Checked by Alma
Examples
- But nothing that could be done would prevent the rubber from getting soft in summer and hard and brittle in the winter. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- As brittle as crockery, sir, and as old as the church, if not older. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Silk, lace, and wool when bleached with chlorine become hard and brittle, but when whitened with sulphurous acid, they retain their natural characteristics. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Besides that the thread became so brittle that the slightest shock to the lamp broke it. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- They were of darkened red brick, brittle, with dark slate roofs. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I suppose illness and weakness had worn it and made it brittle. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- 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. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Checked by Ida