brittle
English
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.
Pronunciation
Adjective
brittle (comparative brittler or more brittle, superlative brittlest or most brittle)
- Inflexible, liable to break or snap easily under stress or pressure.
- Cast iron is much more brittle than forged iron.
- A diamond is hard but brittle.
- 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Penguin Classics, p. 329:
- 'Do you suppose our convent, and I too, / Are insufficient, then, to pray for you? / Thomas, that joke's not good. Your faith is brittle.
- Not physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.
- Shortbread is my favorite cold pastry, yet being so brittle it crumbles easily, and a lot goes to waste.
- (archaeology) Said of rocks and minerals with a conchoidal fracture; capable of being knapped or flaked.
- Emotionally fragile, easily offended.
- What a brittle personality! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.
- (informal, proscribed)[1] Diabetes that is characterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.
Derived terms
- brittle bone disease
- brittlebush
- brittlegill
- brittle hair syndrome
- brittlely, brittly
- brittleness
- brittle star
- brittlestem
- quasibrittle
Translations
able to break or snap easily under stress or pressure
|
apt to break or crumble when bending
|
emotionally fragile, easily offended
|
Noun
brittle (usually uncountable, plural brittles)
- A confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.
- As a child, my favorite candy was peanut brittle.
- Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.
Synonyms
Translations
confection of caramelized sugar and nuts
See also
References
- ^ Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Merck manual
- “brittle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -le
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪtəl
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Archaeology
- English informal terms
- English proscribed terms
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns