Hyper Dictionary

English Dictionary Computer Dictionary Video Dictionary Thesaurus Dream Dictionary Medical Dictionary

Search Dictionary:  

Meaning of BRITTLE

Pronunciation:  'britl

WordNet Dictionary
  1. [n]  caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets
  2. [adj]  having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped; "brittle bones"; "glass is brittle"; "`brickle' and `brickly' are dialectal"
  3. [adj]  (of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured
  4. [adj]  lacking warmth and generosity of spirit; "a brittle and calculating woman"

BRITTLE is a 7 letter word that starts with B.


 Synonyms: breakable, brickle, brickly, coldhearted, toffee, toffy, unannealed, unhardened, untempered
 See Also: candy, peanut brittle



Webster's 1913 Dictionary
\Brit"tle\, a. [OE. britel, brutel, AS. bryttian to
dispense, fr. bre['o]tan to break; akin to Icel. brytja, Sw.
bryta, Dan. bryde. Cf. {Brickle}.]

Computing Dictionary


Opposite of robust.

[jargon file]

Thesaurus Terms
 Related Terms: atrophied, breakable, brittle as glass, capricious, changeable, cheap-jack, cobwebby, corruptible, crackable, crisp, crispy, crumbly, crump, crushable, dainty, deciduous, delicate, delicately weak, desiccated, dried-up, dying, effeminate, emaciated, ephemeral, evanescent, fading, fickle, fissile, fleeting, flimsy, flitting, fly-by-night, flying, fracturable, fragile, frail, frangible, friable, fugacious, fugitive, gimcrack, gimcracky, gossamery, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, inconstant, insecure, insubstantial, jerry, jerry-built, lacerable, light, lightweight, momentary, mortal, mutable, namby-pamby, nondurable, nonpermanent, papery, parchmenty, passing, pasteboardy, perishable, puny, scissile, sensitive, sere, shatterable, shattery, shivery, short-lived, shriveled, shrunken, sissified, sleazy, slight, splintery, tacky, temporal, temporary, transient, transitive, transitory, undurable, unenduring, unstable, unsubstantial, volatile, vulnerable, wasted, weak, wilted, wispy, withered, wizened, womanish, wrinkled