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caustic was our Word of the Day on 07/22/2008. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of caustic in a Sentence
- His [Roosevelt's] caustic cousin, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, called him a sissy and a mama's boy. —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.
Recent Examples of caustic from the Web
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The 47-year-old Cruz, who has been known since his Princeton debate team days as a gleefully caustic interlocutor, clearly arrived in the meeting chamber in the Hart Senate Office Building with a plan of attack.
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Anna Schuleit Haber bases several of her paintings at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery on caustic, absurd short stories by the 20th-century Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard.
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The series offered comedic and caustic commentary on the Vietnam War, which was then in its closing stages, through its depiction of Army surgeons in Korea 20 years earlier.
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Janney won for her caustic portrayal of Tonya Harding's mother, LaVona Harding in the film about the figure skater's life.
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First is Janet’s best friend, a caustic American woman (Patricia Clarkson).
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If the example of Quentin Tarantino is unmistakable, so too are the influences of Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter in a movie that grows intoxicated with its own caustic repartee.
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The rig is tiny and adorable–attributes not lost on caustic car critics who piled on its 2014 launch as product strategy gone awry.
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The reaction creates a caustic spray to ward off would-be predators.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'caustic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of caustic
Latin causticus, from Greek kaustikos, from kaiein to burn
caustic Synonyms
Synonyms
acerbic, acid, acidic, acrid, barbed, biting, corrosive, cutting, mordant, pungent, sarcastic, sardonic, satiric (or satirical), scalding, scathing, sharp, smart-aleck, smart-alecky, tart;
Near Antonyms
amusing, droll, merry, playful, sportive, waggish;
diplomatic, polite, smooth, suave, urbane;
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;
Synonym Discussion of caustic
caustic, mordant, acrid, scathing mean stingingly incisive. caustic suggests a biting wit.
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- caustic comments
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- mordant reviews of the play
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- acrid invective
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- a scathing satire
Definition of caustic
1
: a caustic agent: such as
a
: a substance that burns or destroys organic tissue by chemical action
b
: a strong corrosive alkali (such as sodium hydroxide)
Recent Examples of caustic from the Web
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The Sympathizer is the caustic, hyper-verbal tale of a double agent embedded in California after the end of the war, sending information back to Vietnam about the activities of the men who are both his friends and enemies.
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Mr. Trump’s other mentor was the caustic and conniving McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn, who counseled Mr. Trump never to give in or concede error.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'caustic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of caustic
CAUSTIC Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of caustic for English Language Learners
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: able to destroy or burn something by chemical action
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: very harsh and critical
CAUSTIC Defined for Kids
Medical Dictionary
medical Definition of caustic
: capable of destroying or eating away organic tissue and especially animal tissue by chemical action
- silver nitrate and sulfuric acid are caustic agents
medical Definition of caustic
: a caustic agent: as
a
: a substance that burns or destroys organic tissue by chemical action : escharotic
b
: a strong corrosive alkali (as sodium hydroxide)
Learn More about caustic
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for caustic Spanish Central: Translation of caustic Nglish: Translation of caustic for Spanish speakers
Seen and Heard
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