Standard Lemma guide

brickle

adj · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈbɹɪkəl/
  • rhymes with -ɪkəl
  • CMU ARPABET: B R IH1 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Alternative form of breakle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Appalachia, alt-of, alternative, archaic, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To fail spectacularly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, dialectal

Examples

  • How to Brickle: The New Brunswick Funny Book (1977, →ISBN

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • brittle bones
  • glass is brittle
  • `brickle' and `brickly' are dialectal

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brittle, brickly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English brikel, brekil, brukel (“easily broken or shattered”), from Old English *bryċel, *brucol (as in hūsbryċel (“burglarious”, literally “house-breaking”), scipbrucol (“destructive to shipping, causing shipwreck”, literally “ship-breaking”), equivalent to break + -le. See also breakle.

From the Bricklin, a failed automobile.