Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make or become brittle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make brittle, or liable to break under sudden load or shock. This result will follow any cause which raises the elastic limit relatively to the ultimate resistance of the material, or which lowers its ductility. Hardening of steel in the tempering process does this.
Wiktionary
- v. To make brittle.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make brittle
Etymologies
- From em- + brittle. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Third, methanol can dissolve certain plastics and embrittle a some metals.”
“Yet this lightest of the chemical elements can embrittle the metals used in vehicle engineering.”
“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.”
“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.”
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