elastic

Definitions

From Greek elastikos 'able to drive/spring back' + -ic. The core image is a material that, once stretched or pressed, pushes itself back to shape. The figurative sense ('elastic rules,' 'an elastic budget') borrows that flexibility.

Why It Means This

The Greek root originally meant 'driving, propulsive' — the force of springing back, not the stretch itself. That is why an elastic thing both gives way and recovers: it yields to pressure but drives itself home again.

Common Collocations

• 1.elastic band橡皮筋
• 2.elastic waistband松紧腰
• 3.elastic material有弹性的材料
• 4.highly elastic弹性极佳

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The waistband is elastic, so it fits different sizes.

• 2.

  She kept the papers together with a piece of elastic.

• 3.

  The schedule is fairly elastic, so we can shift meetings.

Easily Confused

elastic vs flexible — elastic stresses springing back to the original shape (an elastic band); flexible stresses bending easily without breaking, but it may stay in the new shape (a flexible wire). A rule can be 'flexible' (easily changed) or 'elastic' (stretched but snaps back to the original).