caustic

See also: càustic

English

Etymology

From the Latin causticus (“burning”), from Ancient Greek καυστικός (kaustikós, “burning”), from καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”) +‎ -ικός (-ikós).

Pronunciation

enPR: kôs'tĭk, kŏs'tĭk, IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːstɪk/, /ˈkɒstɪk/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɔːstɪk

Adjective

caustic (comparative more caustic, superlative most caustic)

Capable of burning, corroding or destroying organic tissue.
(of language, etc.) Sharp, bitter, cutting, biting, and sarcastic in a scathing way.
- 1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:
  "How now!" said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever.
- 1843, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit:
  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
- 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette:
  Madame Beck esteemed me learned and blue; Miss Fanshawe, caustic, ironic, and cynical
- 1857, Anthony Trollope, The Three Clerks:
  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.
- 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge:
  this set of worthies, who were only too prone to shut up their emotions with caustic words.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
  The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
- c. 1930, W.H.Auden, The Quest:
  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

Synonyms

(capable of destroying tissue): acidic, biting, burning, corrosive, searing
(severe, sharp): bitchy, biting, catty, mordacious, nasty, sarcastic, scathing, sharp, spiteful, vitriolic, pungent

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

capable of destroying organic tissue

Asturian: cáusticu
Bulgarian: разяждащ (bg) (razjaždašt)
Catalan: càustic
Czech: žíravý m
Danish: kaustisk, kaustisk, ætsende
Dutch: corrosief (nl), bijtend (nl)
Finnish: syövyttävä (fi), kaustinen (fi)
Galician: cáustico (gl)
German: zersetzend (de), beißend (de)
Greek: καυστικός (el) m (kafstikós)
Hungarian: maró (hu)
Italian: caustico (it)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: идэмхий (idemxii)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kaustisk

Nynorsk: kaustisk
Polish: kaustyczny m, żrący (pl) m
Portuguese: cáustico (pt)
Russian: е́дкий (ru) (jédkij)
Scottish Gaelic: loisgeach
Spanish: cáustico (es)
Ukrainian: каустичний m (kaustyčnyj), їдкий m (jidkyj)

severe; satirical; sharp

Bulgarian: хаплив (bg) (hapliv), язвителен (bg) (jazvitelen)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 尖酸嘅 (zim¹ syun¹ ge³)
Czech: sžíravý m
Danish: ætsende, bidende, skarp (da)
Dutch: streng (nl), scherp (nl), schamper (nl)
Finnish: pureva (fi), ivallinen (fi), myrkyllinen (fi)
German: scharf (de), beißend (de), bissig (de), ätzend (de), sarkastisch (de)
Greek: καυστικός (el) m (kafstikós)
Italian: caustico (it)
Ottoman Turkish: آجی (acı) (of words)
Portuguese: cáustico (pt)
Ukrainian: уїдливий m (ujidlyvyj)

Noun

caustic (countable and uncountable, plural caustics)

Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
- 2013, John Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry‎^[1]:
  The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate).
(optics, computer graphics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays of light for a given surface or object.
(mathematics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays for a given curve.
(informal, chemistry, uncountable) Caustic soda.

Derived terms

Translations

substance which burns, corrodes or destroys organic tissue

Czech: žíravina (cs) f
Finnish: syövyttävä aine
German: Ätzmittel n
Greek: καυστικό (el) n (kafstikó)
Portuguese: cáustico (pt) m
Romanian: caustic (ro)

envelope of reflected or refracted rays of light for a given surface or object

Finnish: polttopinta
German: Kaustik f
Italian: caustica (it) f
Portuguese: cáustica f

envelope of reflected or refracted rays for a given curve

Finnish: polttopinta
German: Kaustik f
Italian: caustica (it) f
Portuguese: cáustica f

caustic soda — see caustic soda

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian caustico or Latin causticus.

Adjective

caustic m or n (feminine singular caustică, masculine plural caustici, feminine/neuter plural caustice)

burning, caustic, corrosive

Declension

Declension of *caustic*
		masculine	feminine	masculine	neuter
		singular		plural
nominative- accusative	indefinite	caustic	caustică	caustici	caustice
nominative- accusative	definite	causticul	caustica	causticii	causticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	caustic	caustice	caustici	caustice
genitive- dative	definite	causticului	causticei	causticilor	causticelor