caustic
Pronunciation
  • enPR kôs'tĭk, IPA: /ˈkɔːstɪk/, /ˈkɒstɪk/
Adjective

caustic

  1. Capable of burning, corroding or destroying organic tissue.
  2. (of language, etc.) Sharp, bitter, cutting, biting, and sarcastic in a scathing way.
    • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette
      Madame Beck esteemed me learned and blue; Miss Fanshawe, caustic, ironic, and cynical
    • 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 Related terms

Translations Translations Noun

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.
Translations Translations Translations


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