different between brittle vs bounce

English

Etymology

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit +? -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??tl?/
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Adjective

brittle (comparative brittler or more brittle, superlative brittlest or most brittle)

1. 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.
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. (archaeology) Said of rocks and minerals with a conchoidal fracture; capable of being knapped or flaked.
4. Emotionally fragile, easily offended.

   What a brittle personality! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.

5. (informal, proscribed) Diabetes that is characterized by dramatic swings in blood sugar level.

Derived terms

• brittle bone disease
• brittlebush
• brittlegill
• brittle hair syndrome
• brittlely, brittly
• brittleness
• brittle star
• brittlestem
• quasibrittle

Translations

Noun

brittle (usually uncountable, plural brittles)

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.

Synonyms

• brickle

Translations

See also

• break, breakable
• short (adjective)

References

• brittle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• blitter, triblet

English

Etymology

From Middle English bunsen (“to beat, thump”), perhaps imitative. Compare Low German bunsen (“to beat”), Dutch bonzen (“to thump, knock, throb”), and akin to bonken (“to bang, smash”), and possibly English bang.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bouns, IPA^(key): /ba?ns/
• Rhymes: -a?ns

Verb

bounce (third-person singular simple present bounces, present participle bouncing, simple past and past participle bounced)

1. (intransitive) To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.

   The tennis ball bounced off the wall before coming to rest in the ditch.

2. (intransitive) To move quickly up and then down, or vice versa, once or repeatedly.

   He bounces nervously on his chair.
3. (transitive) To cause to move quickly up and down, or back and forth, once or repeatedly.

   He bounced the child on his knee.

   The children were bouncing a ball against a wall.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To suggest or introduce (an idea, etc.) to (off or by) somebody, in order to gain feedback.

   I'm meeting Bob later to bounce some ideas off him about the new product range.

5. (intransitive) To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound.

   She bounced happily into the room.

   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, On Mr. Pulteney's Being Put Out of the Council

     Out bounced the mastiff.

6. To move rapidly (between).
7. (intransitive, informal, of a cheque/check) To be refused by a bank because it is drawn on insufficient funds.

   We can’t accept further checks from you, as your last one bounced.

8. (transitive, informal) To fail to cover (have sufficient funds for) (a draft presented against one's account).

   He tends to bounce a check or two toward the end of each month, before his payday.

9. (intransitive, slang) To leave.

   Let’s wrap this up, I gotta bounce.

10. (US, slang, dated) To eject violently, as from a room; to discharge unceremoniously, as from employment.
    • 1946, Yachting (volume 80, page 46)

      Nobody took umbrage and bounced me out of the Union for being a pro.

11. (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) (sometimes employing the preposition with) To have sexual intercourse.
12. (transitive, air combat) To attack unexpectedly.

    The squadron was bounced north of the town.

13. (intransitive, electronics) To turn power off and back on; to reset.

    See if it helps to bounce the router.

14. (intransitive, Internet, of an e-mail message) To return undelivered.

    What’s your new email address? The old one bounces.

    The girl in the bar told me her address was [email protected], but my mail to that address bounced back to me.

15. (intransitive, aviation) To land hard and lift off again due to excess momentum.

    The student pilot bounced several times during his landing.

16. (intransitive, skydiving) To land hard at unsurvivable velocity with fatal results.

    After the mid-air collision, his rig failed and he bounced.

17. (transitive, sound recording) To mix (two or more tracks of a multi-track audio tape recording) and record the result onto a single track, in order to free up tracks for further material to be added.

    Bounce tracks two and three to track four, then record the cowbell on track two.

18. (slang, archaic) To bully; to scold.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)

19. (slang, archaic) To boast; to bluster.
20. (archaic) To strike or thump, so as to rebound, or to make a sudden noise; to knock loudly.
    • 1708, John Partridge, Squire Bickerstaff Detected

      Another bounces as hard as he can knock.

Synonyms

• (change direction of motion after hitting an obstacle): bounce back, rebound
• (move quickly up and down): bob
• (have sexual intercourse): bang, do it, have sex; see also Thesaurus:copulate

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

bounce (countable and uncountable, plural bounces)

1. A change of direction of motion after hitting the ground or an obstacle.
2. A movement up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
3. (Internet) An email that returns to the sender because of a delivery failure.
4. The sack, licensing.
5. A bang, boom.
   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

     I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker.

6. (archaic) A drink based on brandy^W.
7. (archaic) A heavy, sudden, and often noisy, blow or thump.
   • 1685, John Dryden, The Despairing Lover

     The bounce burst ope[sic] the door.

8. (archaic) Bluster; brag; untruthful boasting; audacious exaggeration; an impudent lie; a bouncer.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of De Quincey to this entry?)

9. Scyliorhinus canicula, a European dogfish.
10. A genre of New Orleans music.
11. (slang, African-American Vernacular) Drugs.
12. (slang, African-American Vernacular) Swagger.
13. (slang, African-American Vernacular) A 'good' beat.
14. (slang, African-American Vernacular) A talent for leaping.

Synonyms

• (change of direction of motion after hitting an obstacle): rebound
• (movement up and down): bob, bobbing (repeated), bouncing (repeated)
• (talent for leaping): ups, mad ups

Derived terms

• bouncy
• on the bounce

Translations

References