as in sarcastic
marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings
a professor with a rather acerb sense of humor
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for acerb
Adjective
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In her response, Stanton was livid and sarcastic.—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026 -
Adebayo said with a sarcastic smile.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In 1784, Franklin suggested shifting schedules to rise earlier in a satirical letter to the Journal of Paris.—
Hannah Poukish,
Sacbee.com,
7 Mar. 2026
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The innocent taste test went largely unnoticed for weeks until creators began stitching their reactions and flooding social feeds with a storm of memes and satirical posts.—
Rachel Ventresca,
Fortune,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Fires caused by Israeli strikes on oil reservoirs on Saturday burned for multiple days, prompting Iranian officials to warn residents against acid and toxic rain that resulted from the significant amount of pollutants in the air.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
10 Mar. 2026
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An arrest has been made in an acid attack on a Long Island college student that happened nearly five years ago.—
Alexa Herrera,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Soil with a pH below 6 is considered acidic; anything above 7 is alkaline; 7 is neutral.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
11 Mar. 2026
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Some plants perform better in an acidic soil, others in an alkaline soil.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
10 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Many South African farms are ringed in barbed wire and outfitted with security cameras; one of the migrants told me a story about confronting armed robbers.—
Boyce Upholt,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
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The release put out by the White House is on the heels of barbed posts by top aide Cheung and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt against CNN and several other outlets.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Ricciardia documents his final journey with an acerbic sense of humor, punctuated by Benna’s stop-motion animation.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
6 Mar. 2026
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Mitski has been trying to rein in an ever-present audience gaze since 2018, when her fuzzy, acerbic fifth album Be the Cowboy garnered near-unanimous praise that led to meeting Taylor Swift.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Acerb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/acerb. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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