brittle.

1. Hard but liable to crack or break under pressure.

2. Hard-edged or strained in manner, with little emotional flexibility.

3. A hard confection made from cooked sugar, often containing nuts.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• brittle material
• brittle edge

On the page

The brittle shell broke at the lightest pressure.

Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: Comparative more brittle; superlative most brittle when comparison is meaningful.. Noun use is uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common.