Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Brittle \Brit"tle\, a. [OE. britel, brutel, AS. bryttian to
   dispense, fr. bre['o]tan to break; akin to Icel. brytja, Sw.
   bryta, Dan. bryde. Cf. {Brickle}.]
   Easily broken; apt to break; fragile; not tough or tenacious

Source : WordNet®

brittle
     adj 1: having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured
            or snapped; "brittle bones"; "glass is brittle";
            "`brickle' and `brickly' are dialectal" [syn: {brickle},
             {brickly}]
     2: lacking warmth and generosity of spirit; "a brittle and
        calculating woman"
     3: (of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily
        cracked or fractured [syn: {unannealed}]

brittle
     n : caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets [syn: {toffee}, {toffy}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

brittle
     
         Said of {software} that is functional but easily
        broken by changes in operating environment or configuration,
        or by any minor tweak to the software itself.  Also, any
        system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to
        abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g. a {file system}
        that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said
        to be brittle.  This term is often used to describe the
        results of a research effort that were never intended to be
        robust, but it can be applied to commercially developed
        software, which displays the quality far more often than it
        ought to.
     
        Opposite of {robust}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-05-09)