caustic

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
A similar case occurred last spring; the caustic was an efficacious preventive; the cautery was perfectly useless.

View all »
Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Capable of burning, corroding, dissolving, or eating away by chemical action.
  2. adjective Corrosive and bitingly trenchant; cutting. See Synonyms at sarcastic.
  3. adjective Causing a burning or stinging sensation, as from intense emotion: "Most of all, there is caustic shame for my own stupidity” (Scott Turow).
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Looser, slyly celebratory and carnally raw, it's something of a Year Zero re-fit for BPB as he re-emerges like a caustic werewolf. —  Latest Music News
  • Sid Smith: Combining the caustic, anti-suburban sensibilities of "American Beauty" and "The Stepford Wives," "Desperate Housewives" starts out terrifically, opening on Mary Alice as she dishes up a waffle breakfast, ushers her family out the door and goes about her chores -- what her narration calls "quietly polishing my routine until it gleamed with perfection."
  • The engravings gathered in this copiously illustrated volume are at once searing, caustic, and moving, running the full emotional spectrum with both sardonic reflections-I Love the Fucking Army and the Army Loves Fucking Me-and poignant maxims-When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, the World Will Know Peace. —  The Chicago Blog
  • All he needs to know are the race-baiting, caustic, and aggressive comments she seems to make on a weekly basis. —  Metro Times
  • Accurate but caustic * NEW* presserkun | 04 / 24 / 09 —  ZDNet News - News Page One
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 468 times.

2 people have marked this word as a favorite.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

sarcastic ·  scathing ·  pungent ·  sardonic ·  satirical ·  corrosive ·  incisive ·  flippant ·  acidic ·  acrimonious ·  trenchant ·  bitter
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English caustik, from Latin causticus, from Greek kaustikos, from kaustos, from kaiein, kau-, to burn.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French caustique = Spanish cáustico = Portuguese caustico = Italian caustico, from Latin causticus, from Greek καυστικός, caustic, corrosive, capable of burning, καυστός, verbal adjective of καίειν, burn: see calm, cauma, causus, and cf. encaustic.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈkɔstɪk/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a month.

Recently looked up

selector · consubstantiation · Unconscionable · bullfinch · grizzled

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

be careful! the razor is razor-sharp! · minty-fresh death threat · please stop sucking the monkeybread · beauregard · unicycle hockey