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BRITTLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting foods and drinks
Hypernyms ("brittle" is a kind of...):
candy; confect (a rich sweet made of flavored sugar and often combined with fruit or nuts)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "brittle"):
peanut brittle (brittle containing peanuts)
II. (adjective)
Comparative and superlative
Comparative: brittler
Superlative: brittlest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped
Example:
'brickle' and 'brickly' are dialectal
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)
Derivation:
brittleness (firm but easily broken)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured
Synonyms:
brittle; unannealed
Classified under:
Similar:
unhardened; untempered (not brought to a proper consistency or hardness)
Derivation:
brittleness (firm but easily broken)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking warmth and generosity of spirit
Example:
a brittle and calculating woman
Classified under:
Similar:
coldhearted (lacking in sympathy or feeling)
Context examples:
A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element; brittle at low temperatures but liquid above room temperature; occurs in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores.
(Gallium, NCI Thesaurus)
"That was too bad," said Dorothy, "but really I think we were lucky in not doing these little people more harm than breaking a cow's leg and a church. They are all so brittle!"
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
There are many kinds of bone problems: • Low bone density and osteoporosis, which make your bones weak and more likely to break • Osteogenesis imperfecta makes your bones brittle • Paget's disease of bone makes them weak • Bone disease can make bones easy to break • Bones can also develop cancer and infections • Other bone diseases are caused by poor nutrition, genetic factors or problems with the rate of bone growth or rebuilding
(Bone Diseases, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)
Then, perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying, she added, Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
It is the only biome found exclusively in Brazil, and it is usually known by its appearance in times of drought, when trees shed their leaves, the woods turn gray and the vegetation brittle.
(Brazilian savanna unprotected, study finds, Agência Brasil)
Alleging temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, Molony said metallurgists had opined when you get that level of temperature against steel it makes it brittle, and reduces its strength by up to 75 per cent.
(UK documentary claims fire weakened RMS Titanic, Wikinews)
After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
