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
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Slightly sour; sub-acid; sourish.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being sour to the taste
Etymologies
- From Latin acidulus ("sourish, acidulous"), diminutive of acidus ("acid, sour"). See acid. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin acidulus, diminutive of acidus, sour; see acid. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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 4087 more...
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
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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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 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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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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Food
breadberry, papmeat, papboat, sausage sizzle, foretaste, pamplemousse, waffle, plankton, acidulous, subacid, repast
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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Not quite love
prolix, pleonastic, senescence, autochthonous, loup, pronk, onomatopoeia, magisterial, rixatrix, esurient, blowsabella, crapulence and 69 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 476 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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GRE list #2
FOM - cards - 1/2
abjure, abscond, abstemious, accretion, acidulous, acme, adulterate, aerie, affected, aggrandize, alacrity, mitigate and 221 more...
Tweets
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