capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue.
severely critical or sarcastic: a caustic remark.
noun
a caustic substance.
Optics.
caustic curve.
caustic surface.
Origin of caustic
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin causticus<Greek kaustikós burning, caustic, equivalent to kaust(ós) burnt (verbal adjective of kaíein to burn) + -ikos-ic
To extract usable fibers from wood pulp, workers have to apply a sequential mix of caustic chemicals, and are exposed along the way to carbon disulfide, a volatile byproduct that can cause everything from priapism to death by respiratory failure.
Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Environmentalism - Issue 90: Something Green|Anastasia Bendebury & Michael Shilo DeLay|October 7, 2020|Nautilus
Why do you think that until know you have been cast as the caustic wife in other pieces?
‘Surviving Jack’ Star Rachael Harris Is No Longer ‘The Bitch'|Kevin Fallon|March 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Her father left his entire £2 million fortune to his brother, explaining his decision in a caustic rider to his will.
The Week in Death: Clarissa Dickson Wright, One of ‘Two Fat Ladies’|The Telegraph|March 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When his companion reacts to his confession with a caustic joke, he says, confused, “So it makes a difference does it?”
The Laboratory of Real Life in Caryl Churchill’s “Love and Information”|Liesl Schillinger|February 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Perhaps the most caustic anti-Republican riff came from Al Gore.
Please Don’t Compare House Republicans to Iran or Syria, OK?|Michelle Cottle|October 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
And she does it all with caustic wit and some less-than-charming winking.
Lucille Bluth’s Best Mothering Moments in ‘Arrested Development’ (VIDEO)|Jean Trinh|May 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Sometimes merely written to catch the public attention, a malignity is indulged against authors, to season the caustic leaves.
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)|Isaac D'Israeli
In principle the lye boil is simple, consisting in boiling the goods with a solution of soda ash, or caustic soda.
The Dyeing of Cotton Fabrics|Franklin Beech
The subject was a dry one, and quite unsuited to Dr. Spenser, whose heart was set on maintaining a reputation for caustic wit.
Hyacinth|George A. Birmingham
The determination is itself simple: a portion of liquor is titrated direct with caustic soda.
Animal Proteins|Hugh Garner Bennett
The eschar had the same character; a little fluid was again evacuated and the caustic applied to the orifice as before.
An Essay on the Application of the Lunar Caustic in the Cure of Certain Wounds and Ulcers|John Higginbottom
British Dictionary definitions for caustic
caustic
/ (ˈkɔːstɪk) /
adjective
capable of burning or corroding by chemical actioncaustic soda
sarcastic; cuttinga caustic reply
of, relating to, or denoting light that is reflected or refracted by a curved surface
noun
Also called: caustic surfacea surface that envelops the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface
Also called: caustic curvea curve formed by the intersection of a caustic surface with a plane