Acrimonious rose to the top of our lookups on the morning of November 8th, 2016, as does the bile in the gorge of one who has supped overmuch on an unpalatable meal. A number of newspapers and media groups used the word in covering the finale of the presidential election.
Election Day: An acrimonious race reaches its endpoint
—The Washington Post (headline), 8 Nov. 2016American are casting their verdicts on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Tuesday after an exhausting, acrimonious campaign that at times revolted the nation and tore at its fabric.
—Stephen Collinson, CNN.com, 8 Nov. 2016
Acrimonious (“angry and bitter”) can be traced to the Latin ācer (“sharp, biting, keen”). It has been in use in English since at least the beginning of the 17th century.
These and many other sharp and acrimonious speaches, may justly be said against these forenamed oppressors, so that your Honors have much to thanke God and to reioice, in that, that by your religious and honorable carriage herein you have separated your selves from this kinde of men.
—Hermann Rennecher & Peter Allibond, The Golden Chayne of Salvation, 1604
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