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acerbic

adjective

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhsehrbik

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IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈsɛɹbɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. figurative

    Sharp, harsh, biting.

  2. Tasting sour or bitter.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

acerbic witacerbic commentacerbic toneacerbic criticacerbic tongueacerbic criticismless acerbicsometimes acerbic

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • acrid

    Sharp and harsh, or bitter and not to the taste.

  • acerb

    Sharp and harsh in expressing oneself.

  • blistering

    Harsh or corrosive.

  • caustic

    Sharp, bitter, cutting, biting, and sarcastic in a scathing way.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: sharp or harsh or biting

astringentsour

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.