acid test

noun

: a severe or crucial test

Examples of acid test in a Sentence

The new team faced its first acid test when it played the national champions.

Recent Examples on the Web

While the park had hosted bluegrass, drum circles and ’60s-era acid tests, a concert had never happened there after the park’s 7p.m. curfew. —Katie Bain, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019

In our family, the acid test for a barbecue sauce is tasting it separately from the meat by mopping it up from the plate with a slice of Wonder Bread – a fine old Arthur Bryant’s tradition. —Michael Alberty, oregonlive, 3 Aug. 2023

The Inside Story Of Papa John's Toxic Culture Market Trends Signal Blue Skies Ahead For Boeing Commercial Airplanes Legend ‘Big Daddy’ Gives Advice To Aspiring Drag Racers, More As for Chelsea, the encounter will prove an acid test. —Henry Flynn, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2023

And of course, that’s going to be the acid test. —IEEE Spectrum, 24 Nov. 2020

The next big political story, the runoff elections in Georgia, might be an acid test for a political media industry that’s increasingly concentrated in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and which remains too fixated on gossip-laden political content. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 2 Dec. 2020

That's all well and good, but launch is the acid test. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 8 Mar. 2023

Next year brings an acid test, a single-motor, 480-hp Air Pure for $78,900 — about $12,000 less than a Tesla Model S Long Range, and $31,000 less than Mercedes-Benz' electric EQS. —IEEE Spectrum, 7 Mar. 2023

But Berlin’s European Film Market will be the industry’s true acid test. —Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Feb. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

so called from the use of nitric acid to determine the gold content of jewelry

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above