Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste; sour, with astringency or roughness; hence, figuratively, sharp, harsh, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, as unripe fruit; sharp and harsh.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, as
unripe fruit. - adjective Sharp and harsh in expressing oneself.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective harsh or corrosive in tone
- adjective sour or bitter in taste
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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The morning my review ran, I got a call from an agent friend who is cultivated, extraordinarily smart and superbly acerb.
When Words Fail 2007
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This way came Dr. John, in visage, in shape, in hue, as unlike the dark, acerb, and caustic little professor, as the fruit of the Hesperides might be unlike the sloe in the wild thicket; as the high-couraged but tractable
Villette 2003
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John Richardson's piece on Judy Chicago is delightful, insightful, and nicely acerb.
Leftovers Harrison, Allen 1981
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She denied that stenographers could ever form a union, but she could not answer his acerb, "Why not?"
The Job An American Novel Sinclair Lewis 1918
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It may be suggested, in tones of some remonstrance, that things like "though pierced by the cruel acerb," or "thy fleetingness is bigger in the ghost," or "her gabbling grey she eyes askant," or "sheer film of the surface awag" are not taking Nature naturally.
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Yet his carriage was assuredly not that of middle age, and indeed, the total of his personality, neither young nor old, neither callow nor acerb, neither lightly unreserved nor too gravely severe, offered certain problems not capable of instant solution.
The Law of the Land Emerson Hough 1890
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Then acerb old John Cotton and some other Boston ascetics
Sabbath in Puritan New England Alice Morse Earle 1881
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He had been giving a dinner followed by a concert, and the deafening strains of the music clashed with my acerb spirit, irritating me excessively.
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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Separated from a certain fascination that there was for her in Edward's acerb wit, she saw that he was doing a dastardly thing in cold blood.
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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Thereupon followed a soft discussion that was as near being acerb as nails are near velvet paws.
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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