embrittle

From em- +‎ brittle.

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embrittle (third-person singular simple present embrittles, present participle embrittling, simple past and past participle embrittled)

1. (intransitive) To become brittle.
   • 2014 August 17, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: Repairing and replacing floorboards [print version: Never buy anything from a salesman, 16 August 2014, p. P7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)‎:

     But I must warn you that chipboard floors are always likely to squeak. The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails. I suspect the adhesive will eventually embrittle and crack, resulting in the same squeaking problems as before.

2. (transitive) To make (something) brittle.
   • 2023 February 27, Peter Coy, “A Gold Mine of Clean Energy May Be Hiding Under Our Feet”, in The New York Times‎:

     True, hydrogen has some drawbacks. It’s costly to liquefy or compress for storage. It’s also hard to push through existing gas pipelines because it’s so light that it leaks, and it embrittles the pipes.

• embrittlement