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.

The plaintive observation, ascribed to the early Victorian British Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne about the acerbically self-confident historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, remains the motto of the thoughtfully skeptical man through the ages.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

TLR was started by Barron’s alumnus John Liscio, who acerbically observed that economists can’t forecast the future because they couldn’t get the present right, so he started tracking it for them.

From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025

She continued: "Awards campaigning is as acerbically exclusive as it has always been. I do not yet know which measures will best encourage meritocracy. I've been working toward discovering them and will continue to."

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2023

Nikki Finke, the Hollywood journalist who founded Deadline and often acerbically called out movie executives, died yesterday.

From New York Times • Oct. 10, 2022

Mother acerbically declined to learn the art of physical culture.

From The Innocents A Story for Lovers by Lewis, Sinclair