ELASTICITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does elasticity mean? 

• ELASTICITY (noun)
  The noun ELASTICITY has 1 sense:

1. the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed

  Familiarity information: ELASTICITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ELASTICITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

elasticity; snap

Context example:

the waistband had lost its snap

Hypernyms ("elasticity" is a kind of...):

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "elasticity"):

resilience; resiliency (the physical property of a material that can return to its original shape or position after deformation that does not exceed its elastic limit)

bounce; bounciness (the quality of a substance that is able to rebound)

give; spring; springiness (the elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length)

stretch; stretchability; stretchiness (the capacity for being stretched)

temper; toughness (the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking)

elasticity of shear (the elasticity of a body that has been pulled out of shape by a shearing force)

Antonym:

inelasticity (the lack of elasticity)

Derivation:

elastic (capable of resuming original shape after stretching or compression; springy)

 Context examples 

Found in beta-keratin, the main protein in nails, skin, and hair, Cysteine is important in collagen production, as well as skin elasticity and texture.

(Cysteine, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein is involved in the elasticity of the extracellular matrix.

(Elastin, NCI Thesaurus)

An ultrasound-based imaging technique used to examine the stiffness or elasticity of a tissue by applying mechanical compression or vibration to the tissue being imaged.

(Elastography, NCI Thesaurus)

Chondroitin is the major glycosaminoglycan in cartilage, responsible for the elasticity of cartilage; it may reduce the IL-1beta-induced nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kB) translocation in chondrocytes, inhibiting NF-kB-mediated inflammatory processes.

(Glucosamine Sulfate/Chondroitin Sulfate Tablet, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by loss of elasticity resulting in loosening and folding of the skin.

(Cutis Laxa, NCI Thesaurus)

Its elasticity allows the ribcage to expand while breathing.

(Costal Cartilage, NCI Thesaurus)

Catherine, delighted by all that had passed, proceeded gaily to Pulteney Street, walking, as she concluded, with great elasticity, though she had never thought of it before.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She laughed at the elasticity of my character.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An archer had brought him a change of clothes from the cog, and he had already, with the elasticity of youth, shaken off the troubles and fatigues of the morning.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thickening and loss of elasticity of arterial walls.

(Arteriosclerosis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)