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 brings together judgment and gentleness, reason and passion, acerbity and receptivity.

From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2018

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

He ended up by remarking with great acerbity that exiled queens with political business in their hands should not choose religious houses as their place of retirement.

From Henrietta Maria by Haynes, Henrietta