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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective acrid contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of acrid are caustic, mordant, and scathing. While all these words mean "stingingly incisive," acrid implies bitterness and often malevolence.

acrid invective

When would caustic be a good substitute for acrid?

While in some cases nearly identical to acrid, caustic suggests a biting wit.

caustic comments

When can mordant be used instead of acrid?

The words mordant and acrid are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, mordant suggests a wit that is used with deadly effectiveness.

mordant reviews of the play

In what contexts can scathing take the place of acrid?

In some situations, the words scathing and acrid are roughly equivalent. However, scathing implies indignant attacks delivered with fierce severity.

a scathing satire

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of acrid But there’s a qualitative difference with a spiteful, foul-mouthed, score-settling president leading by acrid example. Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2025 Semi acrid mid palate and a finish with vanilla and raspberries—doused in acidity. Tom Mullen, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025 Scott Peterson/Getty Images/The Christian Science Monitor Today the acrid smell of burning paper permeates every room. Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Jan. 2025 Environmental and community activists welcomed the news of the refinery’s closure as complaints of acrid odors, fiery accidents, soot and harmful emissions have gained new resonance in recent years. Hunter Clauss, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for acrid
Recent Examples of Synonyms for acrid
Adjective
  • The $10,000 cap was a sore spot for many taxpayers in high tax states.
    Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
  • The sore spot was red, swollen, and painful—and the boy and his mother had no idea what had caused it.
    Angela Haupt, Time, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • Where Silverman radically departs from Strindberg’s bitter play is in their portrait of Tekla, who is a spikily delightful self-starter instead of the idiot-monster of the original.
    Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 22 May 2025
  • Still, Levi isn’t bitter and blames the reporter for trying to use Gunn to publicly shame him.
    Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • All Systems Red is a legible introduction to Wells’ hyper-capitalist, playfully satiric galaxy.
    Rory Doherty, Time, 16 May 2025
  • That’s the premise of Douglas Is Cancelled, a cruelly funny 2024 BBC sitcom that seems very much in sync with satiric comedies such as The Office and W1A and Yes Minister.
    Air Mail, Air Mail, 22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Late in the second half, with Arminia three goals down, the travelling fans were so angry that Fabian Klos, the club legend from whom Corboz inherited the captaincy, had to persuade them not to invade the pitch.
    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 22 May 2025
  • Parents and students said a substitute teacher chased, choked and hit a student after becoming angry in a fourth grade classroom at Meadowview.
    Samantha Moilanen, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • While the jeers towards Xhaka followed the midfielder, Arsenal’s captain at the time, retaliating to sarcastic cheers from the crowd at him being replaced in an October 2019 home match against Crystal Palace, those directed at Eboue were due to his performance.
    Carl Anka, New York Times, 14 May 2025
  • His first half was littered with increasingly ridiculous highlights: a lefty hook over Isaiah Hartenstein, a potpourri of 3s with hands in his face, a sarcastic stare-down after his defender tried taking a charge, followed by a pass to himself off the backboard to simplify the finish.
    Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 13 May 2025
Adjective
  • Is this a cynical attempt to rescue their party from a political free fall?
    John Opdycke, The Orlando Sentinel, 21 May 2025
  • And so Lee’s reinterpretation strains to leave us on a high instead of a low, as befits the finale of an update so compellingly eager to flip the script on one of Kurosawa’s most cynical films.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • The way the soil responds will give you an idea of whether your soil is acidic, alkaline, or neutral.
    Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 May 2025
  • The acidic soil at Sutton Hoo, which rotted away the wood of the Anglo-Saxon ship and only left impressions of planks and rows of iron rivets, means that many of the bone combs previously found at Sutton Hoo have not been well-preserved, Howarth said.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 24 May 2025
Adjective
  • There was the acrimonious split between Sir Ben Ainslie and Ratcliffe over the British team in the America’s Cup, while INEOS is in a legal dispute with New Zealand Rugby over the failure to pay the latest instalment of its £3.7m-a-year sponsorship deal.
    Adam Crafton, New York Times, 12 May 2025
  • Despite a somewhat acrimonious parting with Judas Priest, Binks joined his former mates at the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and played three songs with the band.
    Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Acrid.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/acrid. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.

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