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If you have a burning desire to know the origins of caustic, you're already well on your way to figuring it out. Caustic was formed in Middle English as an adjective describing chemical substances, such as lime and lye, that are capable of destroying or eating away at something. The word is based on the Latin adjective causticus, which itself comes ultimately from the Greek verb kaiein, meaning "to burn." In time, caustic was baked into the English language as an adjective describing people or things (such as wit or remarks) that are bitingly sarcastic. Other kaiein descendants in English include cautery and cauterize, causalgia (a burning pain caused by nerve damage), and encaustic (a kind of paint that is heated after it's applied).
Examples of caustic in a Sentence
Garry Wills, Atlantic, April 1994
It was Schuyler's gift for satire and his caustic wit that distinguished his writings and led to his nickname, the Black Mencken.
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times Book Review, 20 Sept. 1992
Albert quailed before those caustic pronouncements, he shuddered and blanched and felt his stomach drop like a croquette into a vat of hot grease.
—T. Coraghessan Boyle, Harper's, October 1987
The chemical was so caustic that it ate through the pipes.
She wrote a caustic report about the decisions that led to the crisis.
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 June 2025
For Chicago and spanning to borders far beyond, there was media personality Gary Deeb as the caustic gatekeeper of all things TV, radio and media reporting about what and who to watch and when and where to listen.
—Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2025
With Franzen-esque fastidiousness, Choi unpacks each character’s backstory, exposing vanities and delusions in a cool, caustic voice, a 21st century Émile Zola.
—Hamilton Cain, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2025
Maybe singing caustic cadences is a way to keep the troops' spirits up.
—Arkansas Online, 26 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for caustic
Cite this Entry
“Caustic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caustic. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
caustic
1 of 2 adjective
caustic
2 of 2 noun
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