subacidityn.
/ˌsʌbəˈsɪdᵻti/, U.S. /ˌsəbəˈsɪdᵻdi/ 1.
a. The quality or condition of being subacid (subacid adj. 1); the quality of having a moderately acidic or sour flavour. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters ii. 173 It's taste is vitriolic, with a remarkable sense of subacidity and stypticity.
1770 D. Monro Treat. Mineral Waters I. 328 Its taste is vitriolic, with a remarkable sense of sub-acidity and stypticity.
1807 Agric. Mag. Sept. 166 Such as aid the separation of the butter..warmth, and a certain degree of subacidity are positives.
1888 Proc. 21st Session Amer. Pomol. Soc. 149/1 For flavor [of oranges] there are forty points: ten for sweetness, ten for subacidity, ten for lack of free acid, and ten for vinous flavour.
1911 Lloyd's Weekly News 12 Mar. 6/1 Full of delicious sweetness tempered by the mildest and most subtle sub-acidity is the little Grecian grape.
1920 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 72 101 Its [sc. a type of plant's] soils show in practically every case a mediacid reaction, rarely approaching subacidity.
2008 N. Bonde in L. Calvin et al. Fishes & Break-up Pangaea 259/1 Usually no lime was precipitated because of the subacidity.
b. Medicine. Abnormally low acidity of a body fluid; an instance of this; (in later use) spec. reduction in the concentration of hydrochloric acid in gastric fluid (= hypochlorhydria n. at hypo- prefix 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disordered secretion > [noun] > gastric secretions
superacidity1800
subacidity1861
anacidity1889
hyperchlorhydria1891
hypochlorhydria1893
achlorhydria1898
hypoacidity1900
1861 Med. Times & Gaz. 23 Nov. 526/1 ‘Sub-acidity’ would be a synonymous term [with superalkalinity], and, perhaps, would be more suggestive of the means we have at our disposal for remedying the defect.
1890 A. Peyer in Wood's Med. & Surg. Monogr. VIII. 490 As to the chemistry of rumination, we know..that hyperacidity, subacidity, or anacidity may be present.
1907 Illinois Med. Jrnl. July 7 In many neurotic individuals there is at first a diminution in the [gastric] secretion, perhaps a subacidity only or there may be an entire absence of HCl secretion.
1950 Charleston (W. Virginia) Daily Mail 29 May 7/1 One-fourth of the individuals with stomach trouble or digestive problems attributable to smoking have excessive acidity and one-fifth of them have subacidity.
2007 I. Eibl tr. A. Pischinger Extracellular Matrix & Ground Regulation v. 178/1 Only 51 patients [with intestinal giardiasis]..had normal acidity, and 393 (88.5%) had subacidity or no acidity at all.
2. figurative. The quality of being subacid (subacid adj. 2); sharpness, tartness. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > sourness or bitterness of temper > [noun] > sourness or bitterness of speech
tartness1548
acrimony1597
acridity1753
subacidity1770
1770 Constantia ii. 7 Some unfortunate Accident in Life is the real Cause of his rigid Sedateness and little Subacidity of Temper.
1833 T. Carlyle in Foreign Q. Rev. Apr. 293 Yet there is a certain sardonic subacidity in Père Hoop.
1881 World 27 July 8/1 The religious papers have expressed themselves..with a certain subacidity of grief.
1932 R. Lehmann Invitation to Waltz 64 His mingling of subacidity, sawdust wit and cowering defensive bachelor ceremony.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1756