caustic

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From the Greek καυστός (kaustos, burnt), via the Latin causticus (burning).

Pronunciation [edit]

Adjective [edit]

caustic (comparative more caustic, superlative most caustic)

  1. Capable of burning, corroding or destroying organic tissue
  2. (of language etc) sharp, bitter, cutting, biting, sarcastic

Synonyms [edit]

Quotations [edit]

  • 1843: "How now!" said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
  • 1843: The bargain was not concluded as easily as might have been expected though, for Scadder was caustic and ill-humoured, and cast much unnecessary opposition in the way — Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit
  • 1853: Madame Beck esteemed me learned and blue; Miss Fanshawe, caustic, ironic, and cynical — Charlotte Bronte, Villette
  • 1857:The Secretary and the Assistant-Secretaries would say little caustic things about him to the senior clerks, and seemed somewhat to begrudge him his new honours. — Anthony Trollope, The Three Clerks
  • 1886: this set of worthies, who were only too prone to shut up their emotions with caustic words. — Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
  • 1930s???: though he came too late / To join the martyrs, there was still a place / Among the tempters for a caustic tongue / / To test the resolution of the young / With tales of the small failings of the great — W.H.Auden, 'The Quest'

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Noun [edit]

caustic (plural caustics)

  1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
  2. (optics, computer graphics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays of light for a given surface or object.
  3. (mathematics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays for a given curve.
  4. (informal, chemistry) caustic soda

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]