Caustic \Caus"tic\, Caustical \Caus"tic*al\, a. [L. caustucs,
Ge. ?, fr. ? to burn. Cf. Calm, Ink.]
1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating
away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive;
searing.
[1913 Webster]
2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark.
[1913 Webster]
Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light,
reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the
reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point
being in one plane.
Caustic lime. See under Lime.
Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid
hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions
of the same.
Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.
Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected
or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic
curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by
reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.
Syn: Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Caustic \Cau"stic\, n. [L. causticum (sc. medicamentum). See
Caustic, a.]
1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other
organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by
chemical action; an escharotic.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Optics) A caustic curve or caustic surface.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
caustic
adj 1: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing
otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid
comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies";
"bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes
about political assassination, talk-show hosts and
medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation" [syn: acerb,
acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, sulfurous,
sulphurous, venomous, virulent, vitriolic]
2: of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of
destroying or eating away by chemical action [syn: corrosive,
erosive, vitriolic]
n : any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue
WordNet (r) 2.0
136 Moby Thesaurus words for "caustic":
Rabelaisian, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent,
acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, actual cautery, acute, amaroidal,
angry, antagonistic, antipathetic, arc, asperous, astringent,
belligerent, biting, bitter, bitter as gall, bow, brand,
brand iron, branding iron, brisk, burning, catacaustic, catenary,
cauter, cauterant, cauterizer, cautery, choleric, circle, clashing,
coarse, colliding, conchoid, conflicting, corroding, corrosive,
crisp, critical, crook, curl, curve, cutting, cynical, despiteful,
destructive, diacaustic, discontented, double-edged, dry, edged,
electrocautery, ellipse, embittered, escharotic, feeling evil,
festoon, fierce, full of hate, hard, harsh, hateful, hook, hostile,
hot iron, hyperbola, incisive, ironic, irritating, keen, lituus,
lunar caustic, malevolent, malicious, malignant, mordacious,
mordant, moxa, nose-tickling, out of humor, out of sorts,
out of temper, parabola, penetrating, piercing, piquant, pithy,
poignant, potential cautery, pungent, quarrelsome, radium,
rancorous, rankled, repugnant, resentful, resenting, rigorous,
rough, salty, sarcastic, sardonic, satiric, scathing, scorching,
set against, severe, sharp, sinus, sore, sour, spiteful, splenetic,
stabbing, stewing, stinging, strident, stringent, succinct, tart,
terse, tracery, trenchant, vehement, venomous, violent, virulent,
vitriolic, withering
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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