acerbic

acer·bic

adj \ə-ˈsər-bik, a-\

Definition of ACERBIC

: acid in temper, mood, or tone <acerbic commentary> <an acerbic reviewer>

— acer·bi·cal·ly \-bi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Examples of ACERBIC

1. the film's most acerbic critics
2. <whispered a steady stream of acerbic comments as the lecturer droned on>
3. Whitney has graced magazine covers for her acerbic and blunt evisceration of the banks she has covered. Several weeks ago, she left her well-paid post at Oppenheimer to start her own economic consultancy, where she will charge many of her employer's clients for her own unambiguous analysis. —Zachary Karabell, Newsweek, 9 Mar. 2009
4. … we probably have no choice but to enjoy Private Lives on its own terms—as a play that exults in its total lack of a public dimension. Coward's acerbic wit, his submerged sensibility, and his clipped semantics actually had a profound influence on the styles of virtually all the English dramatists who followed him … —Robert Brustein, New Republic, 10 June 2002
5. … discovery of self-esteem and New Agey conclusions (“I discovered there was a goddess deep inside me”) are something that an acerbic comedian like Cho shouldn't embrace without irony. —Publishers Weekly, 7 May 2001
6. We want to experience how someone as acerbic as Jane Austen, as morally passionate as Dostoyevsky, as psychologically astute as Henry James makes sense of the chaos of this world. —Laura Miller, New York Times Book Review, 15 Mar. 1998

Origin of ACERBIC

(see acerb)

First Known Use: 1865

Related to ACERBIC

Synonyms: acerb, sarcastic, acid, acidic, acidulous, acrid, barbed, biting, caustic, corrosive, cutting, mordant, pungent, sardonic, satiric (or satirical), scalding, scathing, sharp, smart-aleck, smart-alecky, smart-mouthed, snarky, tart

Related Words: brisk, cross, sharp-tongued, sour, sourish, spiky (also spikey), tartish; incisive, keen, poignant, trenchant; cynical, dry, ironic (also ironical), wry; facetious, flippant, tongue-in-cheek; acrimonious, bitter, resentful, vitriolic; harsh, rough, severe, stringent; abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), concise, crisp, curt, gruff, pithy, snippety, snippy, succinct, terse; backhanded, insincere

Near Antonyms: amusing, droll, merry, playful, sportive, waggish; gentle, mild; bland; good-humored, good-natured; diplomatic, polite, smooth, suave, urbane; affable, cordial, genial, gracious, hospitable, sociable

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