Crossword clues for acerbity
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Acerbity \A*cerb"i*ty\, n. [F. acerbit['e], L. acerbitas, fr. acerbus. See Acerb.]
Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
Harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, acerbity of temper, of language, of pain.
--Barrow.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1570s, from Middle French acerbité, from Latin acerbitatem (nominative acerbitas) "harshness, sharpness, bitterness," from acerbus "bitter to taste, sharp, sour, tart" (related to acer "sharp;" compare Latin superbus "haughty," from super "above"), from Proto-Italic *akro-po- "sharp," from PIE *ak- "sharp" (see acrid). Earliest use in English is figurative, of "sharp and bitter" persons. Of tastes, from 1610s.
Wiktionary
n. 1 sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit. 2 harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, '''acerbity''' of temper, of language, of pain.
WordNet
n. a sharp bitterness
a sharp sour taste [syn: tartness]
a sharp and bitter manner [syn: bitterness, acrimony, jaundice]
Usage examples of "acerbity".
She was no pietist, but there is nowadays coming into existence a class of persons who substitute for the old religious acerbity a narrow and oppressive zeal for good works of purely human sanction, and to this order Miss Lant might be said to belong.
Marcial, with so much more than his normal acerbity that I refrained from my usual joke about his having a Swiss bank account.
Aretino curbed his natural acerbity and declared that they all had done well.
Therefore I have revised it, and a substantial portion of what appears in this book is new matter -- though it arises from the ancient and inveterate grievances, enthusiasms and acerbities of the diarist.
Bill naffled nostalgically, ignorant of any androidal acerbity and all awash with misplaced nostalgia for his home planet Phigerinadon II.
Sharra said with some acerbity as she began to wring her long hair dry, "but I am.