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Brittle vs Tenuous - What's the difference?

brittle | tenuous |

As adjectives the difference between brittle and tenuous

is that brittle is inflexible, liable to break or snap easily under stress or pressure while tenuous is thin in substance or consistency.

As a noun brittle

is (uncountable) a confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.

brittle

English

(wikipedia brittle)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Inflexible, liable to break or snap easily under stress or pressure.
    • Cast iron is much more brittle than forged iron.
    A diamond is hard but brittle .
  • * 1977 , , Penguin Classics, p. 329:
    • '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 .
  • 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.
  • (archaeology) Said of rocks and minerals with a conchoidal fracture; capable of being knapped or flaked.
  • Emotionally fragile, easily offended.
    • What a brittle personality! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.
  • (informal, proscribed) Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Merck manual Diabetes that is characterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.

    • Related terms

    * brittleness

    Noun

  • (uncountable) A confection of caramelized sugar and nuts.
    • As a child, my favorite candy was peanut brittle .
  • (uncountable) Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.

    • Synonyms

    * brickle

    See also

    * break, breakable * short (adjective)

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    tenuous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Thin in substance or consistency.
    • The aether was thought to be of tenuous strands.
  • insubstantial
    • His argument was not convincing in the debate, considering how tenuous it was.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
    • Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.