acerbity

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As her New York Times obituary put it, “She specialized in sourness, or, more politely, acerbity, which she used to her comic advantage in roles as housekeepers, spinsters, wicked stepmothers, nuns and back-talking secretaries.”

From Slate • Aug. 16, 2019

It sounds treacly, but Linklater handles the sentiment with a light touch of acerbity and sets it off against another dramatic element, the troubled undercurrents that arise inevitably from the student-athlete’s circumstances.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 5, 2016

The play is a novice effort by a fledgling dramatist, but it isn’t helped by Mr. Staller’s additions to the text, which have none of Shaw’s comic acerbity.

From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2016

That's not inappropriate, and once Christopher Salazar arrives as hero John Worthing, the contrast between his benign gravitas and Hunter's febrile acerbity is drolly amusing, a Victorian-era Mutt and Jeff.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2014

The Prince did it so daintily, with such light, graceful touch, such shining absence of acerbity, such brimming over with contagious good humour, that the cloud vanished from the brow of Jove.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, September 2nd, 1893 by Various