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单词 acerbic
释义

Definition of acerbic in English:

acerbic

adjective əˈsəːbɪkəˈsərbɪk
  • 1(especially of a comment or style of speaking) sharp and forthright.

    his acerbic wit
    Example sentencesExamples
    • He instantly wished he could take back the acerbic comment.
    • You should have a sassy woman who knows her food but also has acerbic comments to make about corporate America and the food industry.
    • The author's uncompromising critical insights and acerbic style, both humorous and original, make the reading of this work a feast for both the mind and soul.
    • Back in January, when it began to snow, I made some acerbic comment that all the 4x4 drivers will be coming into their own.
    • His style is acerbic, his humour disquiets, his directness can shock.
    • His question wasn't acerbic, but quite inquisitive.
    • He takes his shots at me, but he has an acerbic, curmudgeonly style that gives me a laugh and he happily owns up to his prejudices.
    • The old man never once turned around to look at the speaker, but his reply was undeniably acerbic in nature.
    • He has a lazy, matey sort of north London accent, longingly smokes each cigarette, as if it is his last, and has an acerbic wit, usually directed against himself.
    • His prose is peppered with acerbic wit and keen insight.
    • Full of my usual razor sharp wit and acerbic commentary coupled with pithy, erudite and provoking insights into the unfolding world about me.
    • Ed is known for his acerbic wit and often outlandish and controversial commentary.
    • For more than 50 years he has brought to the Bar his consummate advocacy skills combined with an acerbic wit and a sharp legal mind…
    • Jeff and the tenacious Steve - who had continued to make acerbic comments about her the whole evening - sat in the two recliners on either side of the couch.
    • He is sharp and acerbic and readily entertains.
    • Known for his acerbic wit, sharp tongue, and occasional profanity, he stood out among the colorless bureaucrats who ruled Poland.
    • Thinly veiled insults and acerbic comments are the tools of his or her trade.
    • I nearly offered my usual acerbic response of ‘And your point is, exactly?’
    • Marrying thought provoking lyrics with great melodies and his trademark acoustic guitar playing, his music is underlined with an acerbic and sometimes sarcastic wit.
    • Written with erudition and firm, if sometimes quirky, opinion, the book is interlarded with humor and acerbic comment.
    Synonyms
    sharp, sarcastic, sardonic, satirical, scathing, cutting, razor-edged, incisive, penetrating, piercing, biting, stinging, searing, keen, caustic, trenchant, bitter, acrimonious, astringent, harsh, severe, devastating, abrasive, wounding, hurtful, unkind, cruel, vitriolic, virulent, mordant, venomous, waspish, poisonous, spiteful, vicious, malicious
    North American acerb
    informal bitchy, catty
    British informal sarky
    North American informal snarky
    rare mordacious, acidulous
  • 2technical, archaic Tasting sour or bitter.

    Synonyms
    sour, acid, acidic, acidulated, tart, bitter, unsweetened, sharp, acetic, acetous, vinegary, pungent, acrid
    unpleasant, distasteful
    North American acerb
    rare acidulous

Derivatives

  • acerbically

  • adverb
    • ‘I can see the headlines now,’ he said acerbically.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • ‘If you're looking for your grandparents, they left,’ she informed me acerbically.
      • This is a remarkably candid self-assessment from a legendarily prickly man of whom his own ex-wife once acerbically observed: ‘His self-regard was easily punctured and his reaction was protracted and troublesome.’
      • What is left in ‘her’ wake, however, is an acerbically astute representation of a social environment in which mothers are routinely erased, undervalued, and ‘trapped’ within the domestic milieu.
      • Flying on the wings of an ubiquitous electric slide guitar, a distinctive if quavering voice, and her acerbically accurate songwriting, the Ottawa songwriter has crafted what sounds suspiciously like a Canadian roots rock classic.
      • ‘No, so it would appear,’ he retorts acerbically.
      • She replied acerbically: ‘Once you've lived through the diagnosis, the worst is behind you.’
      • Even as he held magisterial power over the audience (he asked for quiet and got it) during the autobiographical ‘Freehold,’ Springsteen offered not an oversincere paean to his hometown but an acerbically funny look at small-town life.
      • ‘Because I'm one of the things that's being negotiated,’ I said acerbically, with my tone as much a grudge toward him as bitterness at being in my position.
      • She expresses it in her typically acerbically entertaining way.
      • He acerbically points out that women, slaves and colonized peoples did not need to wait a few hundred years for postmodern thinkers to insist that a supposedly universal modernity had excluded and subjugated them.
      • And so far, he's the only one doing the provoking, I thought acerbically.
      • ‘The names engraved in gold inside it’, he notes acerbically, ‘are supposed to inspire veneration and awe, not to motivate the young to examine the lives of the named individuals with curiosity and patience’.
      • Some lower clergy acerbically accused members of the hierarchy of ‘collaboration’ with the intelligence agencies of the former communist state.
      • Although I wouldn't put it anywhere near as acerbically as the Professor, he undoubtedly has a point.
      • ‘Sorry, Montgomery, I'm not used to looking for them,’ Jessie says acerbically.
      • ‘Yes, and I'm sure that's why Shawn's blood is all over the floor,’ the vice principal said acerbically.
      • Another newspaper and another story, acerbically pointing out: ‘One of the standard replies which citizens complaining to police about thefts hear is, ‘check in the pawn shops’.’
      • ‘Much effort will be given to unteaching that which is not true,’ he wrote acerbically.
      • Crime makes an easy political issue, and there could well be a contest for who can offer the toughest line, and who most acerbically will apportion blame.
  • acerbity

  • noun əˈsəːbətiəˈsərbədi
    mass noun
    • Sharpness and directness in speech.

      their relationship was built on a certain mutual acerbity
      Example sentencesExamples
      • exuberance sharpened by blunt wit and acerbity
      • It has lacked pathos, wit and acerbity.
      • The source said: ‘There was no acrimony, no acerbity.’
      • These writings revealed a first-rate sensibility, a critic ready to stick his neck out and make the necessary judgments, sometimes with acerbity, often with a humorous irony.

Origin

Mid 19th century: from Latin acerbus 'sour-tasting' + -ic.

  • This is from Latin acerbus ‘sour-tasting’.

 
 

Definition of acerbic in US English:

acerbic

adjectiveəˈsərbikəˈsərbɪk
  • 1(especially of a comment or style of speaking) sharp and forthright.

    his acerbic wit
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Back in January, when it began to snow, I made some acerbic comment that all the 4x4 drivers will be coming into their own.
    • Thinly veiled insults and acerbic comments are the tools of his or her trade.
    • Known for his acerbic wit, sharp tongue, and occasional profanity, he stood out among the colorless bureaucrats who ruled Poland.
    • He is sharp and acerbic and readily entertains.
    • Ed is known for his acerbic wit and often outlandish and controversial commentary.
    • He instantly wished he could take back the acerbic comment.
    • For more than 50 years he has brought to the Bar his consummate advocacy skills combined with an acerbic wit and a sharp legal mind…
    • His style is acerbic, his humour disquiets, his directness can shock.
    • The old man never once turned around to look at the speaker, but his reply was undeniably acerbic in nature.
    • Full of my usual razor sharp wit and acerbic commentary coupled with pithy, erudite and provoking insights into the unfolding world about me.
    • He has a lazy, matey sort of north London accent, longingly smokes each cigarette, as if it is his last, and has an acerbic wit, usually directed against himself.
    • I nearly offered my usual acerbic response of ‘And your point is, exactly?’
    • His prose is peppered with acerbic wit and keen insight.
    • The author's uncompromising critical insights and acerbic style, both humorous and original, make the reading of this work a feast for both the mind and soul.
    • Written with erudition and firm, if sometimes quirky, opinion, the book is interlarded with humor and acerbic comment.
    • He takes his shots at me, but he has an acerbic, curmudgeonly style that gives me a laugh and he happily owns up to his prejudices.
    • You should have a sassy woman who knows her food but also has acerbic comments to make about corporate America and the food industry.
    • His question wasn't acerbic, but quite inquisitive.
    • Jeff and the tenacious Steve - who had continued to make acerbic comments about her the whole evening - sat in the two recliners on either side of the couch.
    • Marrying thought provoking lyrics with great melodies and his trademark acoustic guitar playing, his music is underlined with an acerbic and sometimes sarcastic wit.
    Synonyms
    sharp, sarcastic, sardonic, satirical, scathing, cutting, razor-edged, incisive, penetrating, piercing, biting, stinging, searing, keen, caustic, trenchant, bitter, acrimonious, astringent, harsh, severe, devastating, abrasive, wounding, hurtful, unkind, cruel, vitriolic, virulent, mordant, venomous, waspish, poisonous, spiteful, vicious, malicious
  • 2technical, archaic Tasting sour or bitter.

    Synonyms
    sour, acid, acidic, acidulated, tart, bitter, unsweetened, sharp, acetic, acetous, vinegary, pungent, acrid

Origin

Mid 19th century: from Latin acerbus ‘sour-tasting’ + -ic.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/12/23 17:49:51