Brittlename

• 1

  A surname.

brittleadj/ˈbɹɪtəl/

• 1

  Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact.

  • Near-synonyms: crackly, (technical) brash
  • Cast iron is much more brittle than forged iron.
• 2

  Not physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.

  • Shortbread is my favorite cold pastry, yet being so brittle it crumbles easily, and a lot goes to waste.
• 3

  archaeologyhistoryhuman-sciencesTending to fracture in a conchoidal way; capable of being knapped or flaked.

• 4

  Emotionally fragile, easily offended.

  • What a brittle person! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.
• 5

  computingengineeringmathematicsPoorly error- or fault-tolerant; having little in the way of redundancy or defense in depth; susceptible to catastrophic failure in the event of a relatively-minor malfunction or deviance.

• 6

  informalCharacterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.

brittlenoun/ˈbɹɪtəl/

• 1

  A confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.

  • As a child, my favorite candy was peanut brittle.
• 2

  Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.

brittleverb/ˈbɹɪtəl/

• 1

  To become brittle.

  • 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.
  • Her heart fluttered, then stilled when May snapped the image away and her voice brittled.
• 2

  obsoleteTo gut.

  • 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”[.]