brittle

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When stretched, solids elongate until they reach a critical stress point, then break suddenly in a process known as brittle fracture.

From Science Daily • Mar. 30, 2026

As societies emerged, we began to develop egos, those brittle parts of our selves taxed with negotiating between our primal urges and the constraints of a civilized order.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

Running her hand through her brittle white hair, she mimed heating water on a gas stove to wash herself in the cold mornings.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

We move in a familiar loop: outrage at dysfunction, ritualized critique, then a quiet hope that the same brittle systems will somehow stabilize themselves when the stakes get high.

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026

Her fingers were long but brittle and useless, and her teeth were her own.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny