caustic
Americanadjective
noun
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a caustic substance.
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Optics.
adjective
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capable of burning or corroding by chemical action
caustic soda
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sarcastic; cutting
a caustic reply
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of, relating to, or denoting light that is reflected or refracted by a curved surface
noun
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Also called: caustic surface. a surface that envelops the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface
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Also called: caustic curve. a curve formed by the intersection of a caustic surface with a plane
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chem a caustic substance, esp an alkali
Other Word Forms
- caustical adjective
- caustically adverb
- causticity noun
- causticly adverb
- causticness noun
- noncaustic adjective
- noncaustically adverb
- overcaustic adjective
- overcaustically adverb
- overcausticity noun
- uncaustic adjective
- uncaustically adverb
Etymology
Origin of caustic
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin causticus < Greek kaustikós burning, caustic, equivalent to kaust ( ós ) burnt (verbal adjective of kaíein to burn) + -ikos -ic
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.
China has become a major supplier of ingredients for small-molecule medications, coatings and sterilization agents for medical devices, and the chlorine and caustic soda used to keep water safe to drink.
These aren’t your warm and fuzzy bubbes; these are women of the world, and their observations of one another and society can be caustic.
Built around the songs of Kurt Weill, their program tracks his musical life from the caustic Bertolt Brecht shows of 1920s Berlin through his Nazi-forced emigration to France and then to America.
He said that "they were similar characters, they were irascible, witty and caustic, and both were interested in writing".
From BBC
Through his caustic words, Desmond has made it a vicious separation.
From BBC
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.
