1
as in bitter
causing intense discomfort to one's skin
a biting wind that only the toughest football fans were willing to endure
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sarcastic
marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings
the biting comments by the pundits about the government's inaction
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of biting
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2025
The commercial realities of hosting a network television show seem to preclude the biting and incisive commentary, and boundary-pushing humor, for which audiences have turned to YouTube and podcasts.
—Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2025
Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
The lengthy pre-copulation stage involved all three sharks motionless on the seafloor for nearly an hour, after which the female started swimming with one male shark biting onto each of her pectoral fins.
—Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for biting
Adjective
There’s Bud the biting cat, played by a feline named Tonic and who deserves a three-picture deal.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2025
The commercial realities of hosting a network television show seem to preclude the biting and incisive commentary, and boundary-pushing humor, for which audiences have turned to YouTube and podcasts.
—Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2025
Verb
Animals configure their faces and bodies in certain postures for practical reasons — for example, unsheathing their teeth before biting, widening their eyes for a panoramic view of danger, flattening their ears to protect them in a fight.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
The lengthy pre-copulation stage involved all three sharks motionless on the seafloor for nearly an hour, after which the female started swimming with one male shark biting onto each of her pectoral fins.
—Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for biting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for biting
Adjective
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Remove a thin piece of peel from a lemon (for rye) or orange (for bourbon), getting as little of the bitter white pith as possible; hold the peel between your fingers with the outside facing the top of the drink and pinch slightly to express the citrus oils over the top.—
Jeremy Repanich,
Robb Report,
27 Sep. 2025
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The story of the bitter conflict ripping Loving County apart is inseparable from its history, one of hardship, survival, and ties to an unforgiving place that are born deep inside a person’s bones like marrow.—
Mitch Moxley,
Rolling Stone,
27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Notably absent was Jennette McCurdy, who played Carly's sarcastic sidekick Sam in the original series.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
25 Sep. 2025
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Denise – scrappy, sarcastic, and clever – at first was hostile towards Steven, but that passionate annoyance later evolved into teasing, affectionate companionship.—
Sarah John,
Vulture,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Once you’re done sucking away all that excess hair, use the detachable clipper to trim the hair without being tethered by a cord.—
Christine Persaud,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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Since then, the Internet has gone about its immemorial business of destroying all incumbent forms of media; not content with vampirizing print, the digital space began sucking the life from pay-TV a dozen years ago.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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To watch Lipe-Smith’s Caroline cuddle in bed watching TV on her iPad, or bopping around to JoJo Siwa, or pensively finishing a Popsicle while sitting beside her grandmother at a museum, is to have the sheer malevolence of our current administration and its adherents thrown into sharp relief.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
1 Oct. 2025
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But Sport mode was always selected soon after, which, besides adding rev-match downshifts and turning off auto stop/start, adds sharp exhaust tones to its deep-bass-induction soundtrack.—
Peter Nelson,
Robb Report,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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And the show has to be satirical.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Sep. 2025
-
Kuang's latest is a satirical look at the brutal nature of academia.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Marques Brownlee, known as MKBHD on YouTube and other social media channels, has already boiled down his thoughts to a stinging verdict.—
Alex Harrington,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
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While Bernhardt praises her gifts, the French diva doesn’t hold back in her stinging criticism of the production, calling it the same old prewar Italian theater, out of touch with the times.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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One spring day in Paris many years ago, my wife, Diana, a most penetrating photographer, capable of seeing like no one else, decided, as an experiment, to walk across the city blindfolded.—
Hisham Matar,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Aug. 2024
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Since the war began in Gaza, more than six months ago, the Israeli magazine +972 has published some of the most penetrating reporting on the Israel Defense Forces’ conduct.—
Isaac Chotiner,
The New Yorker,
12 Apr. 2024
Adjective
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There are no spools of barbed wire atop its fences or looming guard towers to announce its purpose.—
Shirsho Dasgupta,
Miami Herald,
26 Sep. 2025
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The pair have traded many barbed comments since Khan was elected to lead London in 2016 — Khan strongly criticized the president the same year for pledging a travel ban on a number of majority-Muslim countries, which was enacted in 2017.—
Patrick Smith,
NBC news,
24 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Biting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/biting. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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