elasticity
/ɛlaˈstɪsɪti
/ /iːlaˈstɪsɪti/ /ɪlaˈstɪsɪti/noun [mass noun]
1The ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed; stretchiness: aging can decrease the elasticity of your skin...
- The most striking feature of the basilar membrane is its elasticity.
- For a full season of mountain fun, you need more than rock-hard legs: The key is elasticity.
- The lining helps give blood vessels the elasticity they need to regulate blood pressure.
Synonyms
stretchiness, flexibility, pliancy, suppleness, rubberiness, plasticity, resilience, springiness
informal give
adaptability, flexibility, adjustability, fluidity, accommodation, versatility, variability, malleability, conformability
2Ability to change and adapt; adaptability.Within the rodents, which generally have short generation times, generation time is positively correlated with adult survival elasticity....
- They even have enough elasticity power to allow you to disagree with them.
- It remains a permanent monument to the academic aspect of elasticity.
3 Economics The degree to which a demand or supply is sensitive to changes in price or income: the price elasticity of electricity demand...
- Cars have a relatively high income elasticity of demand.
- Students might have been surprised to see they were being asked to work out the rate of inflation, the elasticity or the multiplier.
- The average of our two estimates of exhortation expenditure elasticities of supply is 0.235.