Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive & intransitive verb To make or become brittle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make brittle, or liable to break under sudden load or shock.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To make
brittle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make brittle
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Third, methanol can dissolve certain plastics and embrittle a some metals.
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Yet this lightest of the chemical elements can embrittle the metals used in vehicle engineering.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010
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Because hydrogen can penetrate and embrittle some metals and alloys, developing standards for using existing pipelines, storage tanks, pumps and delivery systems is an essential first step before the elemental gas can be considered as a viable fuel for widespread use.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories PhysOrg Team 2010
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Last week Gunter, now director of the Reactor Oversight Program of the organization Beyond Nuclear, said the NRC re-licensing program is "blind to how these machines are breaking apart at the molecular level … they embrittle, crack and corrode."
CounterPunch 2009
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