acerb
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of acerb
1650–60; < Latin acerbus; acerbic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some years ago, during a brief lull in Frost's career, acerb Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge predicted that Frost would sink without a trace.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Groucho's ambition is to keep You Bet Your Life neatly balanced between human interest and acerb comment.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Jane Russell has replaced Elaine Stritch in a key role, and while Russell doesn't have the acerb singing voice of Stritch, neither did Stritch have the opulent good looks of Russell.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Out of one recent seminar, for example, came General Lyman Lemnitzer's acerb remarks on General Maxwell Taylor's proposal to merge the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
From Time Magazine Archive
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With her "mayn't be's" and her "is'es," Sylvie was unconsciously making a habit of the trick of Susan Nipper, but with a kindlier touch to her antitheses than pertained to those of that acerb damsel.
From The Other Girls by Whitney, A. D. T. (Adeline Dutton Train)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.