elasticity

[ ih-la-stis-i-tee, ee-la-stis- ]

noun

1. the state or quality of being elastic.
2. flexibility; resilience; adaptability:

   a statement with a great elasticity of meaning.

3. ability to resist or overcome depression; buoyancy.
4. Physics. the property of a substance that enables it to change its length, volume, or shape in direct response to a force effecting such a change and to recover its original form upon the removal of the force.

elasticity

/ ĭ-lă-stĭs′ĭ-tē /

1. The ability of a solid to return to its original shape or form after being subject to strain. Most solid materials display elasticity, up to a load point called the elastic limit ; loads higher than this limit cause permanent deformation of the material.
2. See also Hooke's law

elasticity

¹

1. The property of a material that allows it to return to its original shape after having been deformed and to exert a force while deformed. ( See stress .)

elasticity

²

1. A shift in either demand or supply of a good or service depending on its price. Demand is said to be elastic when it responds quickly to changes in prices, and inelastic when it responds sluggishly.

Other Words From

• none·las·tici·ty noun
• une·las·tici·ty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of elasticity¹

First recorded in 1655–65; elastic + -ity

Example Sentences

The pop comes from great body elasticity in the tendons and ligaments, as well as from full body tension and muscular coordination.

From Outside Online

Unless fast food makes up a large portion of your meals every week, you don’t need to make radical changes in your diet to improve the elasticity of your skin.

From Popular-Science

Curry just spent a whole season showing his prime has elasticity, but here comes a challenger who might address him as “Sir” before talking trash.

From Washington Post

Chemicals, particularly phthalates — components that create the elasticity found in many toys, detergents, cosmetics and food packaging — are contributing to our progenitive woes.

From Ozy

Still, the smooth outer is durable without sacrificing any elasticity.

From Outside Online

(1.2.35–38) This wistfully fluid elasticity of self is a great challenge for an actor.

From The Daily Beast

That extreme elasticity made for some awkward moments in Tampa.

From The Daily Beast

But unlike hard tape, its site says, Kinesio is designed to mimic a “texture and elasticity very close to living human tissue.”

From The Daily Beast

Over the next six months, I am told, I can look forward to overall improvement in volume, skin tone, and elasticity.

From The Daily Beast

Each week, Harvard professors team up with chefs like Dufresne to teach such science principles as elasticity through food.

From The Daily Beast

Judged from this point of view only, the elasticity provided by the new law is doubtless adequate.

From Project Gutenberg

Passing, now, to the other side of elasticity—i.e., contractility—can we say as much?

From Project Gutenberg

There are two forms of elasticity, one of quantity and the other of quality, both provided for in the act.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus the increase of temperature that augments the elasticity of a fluid confined, would expand it in the same degree.

From Project Gutenberg

One other natural law which affects the running of watches is this: Variations in temperature affect the elasticity of metals.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adaptability
• flexibility
• resilience