Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Slightly sour in taste or in manner. See Synonyms at sour.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Slightly sour; subacid, as cream of tartar, oranges, gooseberries, etc.
- Figuratively, sour in feeling or expression; sharp; caustic; harsh.
Wiktionary
- adj. Slightly sour; sub-acid; sourish; as an acidulous tincture - Edmund Burke
- adj. Slightly sour; sub-acid; sourish; as an acidulous tincture - Edmund Burke
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Slightly sour; sub-acid; sourish.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being sour to the taste
Etymologies
- From Latin acidulus, diminutive of acidus, sour; see acid.
Examples
“He wanted to cancel the project — unless I was willing to expand my introduction, incorporating some of the acidulous commentary into a calmer treatment of the matter.”
“Every member of the cast shines at varying intensities: Ms. McAdams as a young almost-married who's lively and attractive, albeit a scold; Kurt Fuller as Inez's acidulous father; Mimi Kennedy as her dryly sarcastic mother; and, in lesser roles, Nina Arianda, Tom Hiddleston, Daniel Lundh and Michel Vuillermoz.”
“His observations range from the cheerful to the acidulous but are never malicious.”
“Gillian Keith fizzed skittishly and effortlessly as Zerbinetta, an acidulous sop to Orla Boylan's munificent, creamy but variably toned Ariadne.”
The Guardian: The Turn of the Screw; Ariadne auf Naxos; Les pêcheurs de perles; Mitsuko Uchida
“Over the Dolphins stadium's public address system, Bailar asked God, "Father and Mother of us all," to protect his "gentle dophins" from the "voracious beasts of prey" and to "limit ... the obfuscations of sportscaster Howard Cosell acidulous tongue, so that he may describe this night truly and grammatically as it is...”
The Huffington Post: Shirl James Hoffman, Ed.D.: Joe Nelms' Prayer Perfect For NASCAR Event
“In a Robert Altman film that's almost bursting with superb performances, Maggie Smith shines as the Countess of Trentham, a mistress of acidulous put-downs.”
“Int he end, he was too acidulous, too independent to get the top job.”
The Huffington Post: Jacob Heilbrunn: The Greatness of Richard Holbrooke
“As the pods ripen, turning from green to brown, they fill out with a juicy, acidulous, reddish brown pulp.”
“Raucous, acidulous, decidedly impolite, yet stylistically arresting, this book is bloody brilliant and if it's way over the top, that's what makes Chabon such a great writer.”
“A number of the young men near the bus stared right through us, numb with rage and fear perhaps, nerves frayed by acidulous thoughts.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘acidulous’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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