acidulous
Americanadjective
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slightly sour.
-
sharp; caustic.
his acidulous criticism of the book.
-
moderately acid or tart; subacid.
adjective
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rather sour
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sharp or sour in speech, manner, etc; acid
Other Word Forms
- subacidulous adjective
Etymology
Origin of acidulous
From the Latin word acidulus, dating back to 1760–70. See acid, -ulous
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.
Sharp observations like these show us glimpses of the acidulous social satirist of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
From Washington Post
In “Appropriate,” a young boy innocently runs downstairs wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood that he found stored away in the attic, turning an acidulous domestic comedy into something queasier.
From Los Angeles Times
His landmark 1962 essay “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art” set grandiose self-importance against the power of acidulously burrowing deep into personal passions.
From Los Angeles Times
Colin makes acidulous remarks about her morals; she snaps back at him to get a job.
From New York Times
Because the first and most significant thing that will strike your ears from the first second of The Well-Tuned Piano is the acidulous yet soft-focused beauty of the tuning system Young uses in the piece.
From The Guardian
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.
