Brittle Meaning
/ˈbɹɪtəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjInflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact.
adjNot physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.
Sentence Examples
I don't like peanut brittle. I love it!
Metals can become brittle at low temperatures.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Old, dry tree branches are ____ and snap easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old paper had become ____ and easy to break over many years.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"'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."
— 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 329:
"The project is based on a similar project, the Class project, which was started by the University of Cornell several years ago under the leadership of Stuart Lynn to preserve brittling old books."
— 1999, J. Siekmann, Maria T. Pazienza, J. G. Carbonell, Information Extraction: Towards Scalable, Adaptable Systems, page 24:
"Her heart fluttered, then stilled when May snapped the image away and her voice brittled."
— 2020, Alys Murray, The Magnolia Sisters:
"Not being versed in the terms of English venery, he asked Abbot Ulfketyl what brittling of a deer might mean; and being informed that it was that operation on the carcass of a stag which his countrymen called eventrer, and Highland gillies now “gralloching”[.]"
— 1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 38, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Old, dry tree branches are ____ and snap easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old paper had become ____ and easy to break over many years.