acerb
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of acerb
1650–60; < Latin acerbus; see 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.
Put together Donaldson's blunt demeanor and Will's ideological questions on This Week with David Brinkley, and Brinkley, who once seemed acerb, comes out courtly by contrast.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Washington's famed, acerb hostess, "Princess Alice" Roosevelt Longworth, 63, lost her footing in a butcher shop, landed hard, broke her left arm in two places and sprained her ankle.
From Time Magazine Archive
"One might suppose that all of this should be entirely clear to any careful reader of the Court's decision," wrote Stewart in acerb conclusion.
From Time Magazine Archive
Miss Black was older than her brother, and had already acquired that acerb precision which lies in wait with such frequent success for middle-aged spinsters and bachelors.
From Notwithstanding by Cholmondeley, Mary
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.
