Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Likely to break, snap, or crack, as when subjected to pressure.
- adjective Easily damaged or disrupted; fragile: synonym: fragile.
- adjective Difficult to deal with; snappish.
- adjective Lacking warmth of feeling; cold.
- adjective Brilliantly sharp, as in percussive sound.
- adjective Perishable.
- adjective Fleeting; transitory.
- noun A confection of caramelized sugar to which nuts are added.
from The Century Dictionary.
- 1. Fickle; changeable.
- Breaking easily and suddenly with a comparatively smooth fracture, as glass; fragile; not tough or tenacious.
- Figuratively, easily destroyed; perishable; fleeting.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Easily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious.
- adjective the mineral
stephanite .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Inflexible , liable to break orsnap easily under stress or pressure. - adjective Not physically tough or
tenacious ; apt to break orcrumble when bending. - adjective archaeology Said of rocks and minerals with a
conchoidal fracture; capable of beingknapped orflaked . - adjective Emotionally
fragile , easilyoffended . - noun uncountable A
confection ofcaramelized sugar andnuts . - noun uncountable Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets
- adjective having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped
- adjective lacking warmth and generosity of spirit
- adjective (of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word brittle.
Examples
-
Like so many other treats available now, this brittle is around for only a few more weeks.
You gonna eat that? Random musings on food and life in Orange County, California » Treat for Tet 2005
-
Like so many other treats available now, this brittle is around for only a few more weeks.
You gonna eat that? Random musings on food and life in Orange County, California » 2005 » January 2005
-
Peanut brittle is more common than cashew brittle, but cashews are a great fit for this recipe because they have a naturally buttery flavor that really suits the buttery shortbread base.
-
But this brittle is still a hit and the batch I shared with my colleagues was gone in five minutes.
Dr Pepper and peanuts | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2008
-
The brittle texture of peanut brittle is usually a turn off to me.
Dr Pepper and peanuts | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2008
-
But this brittle is still a hit and the batch I shared with my colleagues was gone in five minutes.
Archive 2008-06-01 Homesick Texan 2008
-
One of the reasons computer programs are so brittle is that everything is digital, so a single bit flip could massively change a value.
-
Tathagres paused at his side, her expression brittle as porcelain and her mood black as the cloth which bound her hair.
Stormwarden Wurts, Janny 1989
-
Scientists at this week's sessions will hear about the discovery of what the researchers call a brittle star city off the coast of New Zealand.
-
Scientists at this week's sessions will hear about the discovery of what the researchers call a brittle star city off the coast of New Zealand.
shanvrolijk commented on the word brittle
"As a teen, Christopher Hitchens was a voracious but directionless reader, later recalling, “I was too brittle to decide among so many possible treats.”"
Source: What does it mean for a journalist today to be a Serious Reader?
January 22, 2018