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acrid

/ˈækrɪd//ˈækrɪd/·adjective
sharp and bitter to smell or taste; harsh in tone
Fig. 1 — I stand downwind of a smouldering heap, and instead of a clean flame it throws up a thick, dark smoke that curls straight across to me.
01Definition

Something acrid stings the nose, throat, or tongue with a sharp, biting unpleasantness — the smell of burning rubber, the taste of something scorched. The word comes from the Latin acer, 'sharp', and that sharpness is the point: an acrid trace can be faint and still bite hard. By extension a remark or a tone can be acrid, soured with bitterness. It is the keen, eye-watering edge of a thing, not its strength, that the word names.

02In use
  • iThe acrid smoke from the burning tyres made the firefighters' eyes water and would not dilute even in the open air.
  • iiCritics found her tone needlessly acrid, though the argument beneath it was hard to refute.
  • iiiAn acrid haze can linger over a city for days after a wildfire.
03Collocations
  • an acrid smell
  • acrid smoke
  • an acrid taste
  • acrid fumes
  • a faintly acrid tone

Family acridity (noun) · acridly (adverb)

04Relations

=pungent, bitter, caustic, sharp, harsh

≠sweet, fragrant, mild

05Compared
PairThe difference
acrid vs pungentharsh and you recoil → acrid; strong and pointed but you might lean in → pungent (acrid is always unpleasant).
06TOEFL & IELTS

A precise descriptive adjective for TOEFL/IELTS writing about smell, smoke, or taste, and figuratively for a sour tone. Pronounced /ˈækrɪd/, stress on the first syllable. The classic trap is confusing it with 'arid' (dry, of land) — same opening letters, unrelated meaning.

07Asked
What does acrid smell like?
Like something that attacks rather than merely smells: burning plastic, an electrical short, scorched food, tear gas. The signature is the sting — eyes watering, throat catching — more chemical assault than odour. That is the scene above: smoke rolling off a smouldering heap straight into a face that clamps shut and recoils.
What is the difference between acrid and arid?
Two unrelated words that share three letters. Acrid, from Latin acer ('sharp'), is a stinging smell or taste. Arid, from Latin arere ('to be dry'), means parched — arid land, an arid climate. The roots are the memory hook: the same sharp root behind acer also gave us acid, while arere gave nothing wet.
How do you pronounce acrid?
AK-rid — stress on the first syllable, the ending like the -id of 'rigid' or 'vivid'. The first vowel is the short a of cat, never 'AY-crid'. Both American and British English agree on this one, which makes it a safe word to say aloud in a speaking test.
Can acrid describe a tone or a remark?
Yes — an acrid remark or an acrid exchange is one soured by bitterness, the figurative sting standing in for the literal one. Its close cousin acrimonious (from the same Latin root) does the same job for whole relationships and disputes: an acrimonious divorce is acrid at scale.
What is the noun form of acrid?
Acridity — 'the acridity of the smoke' — with acridness as a rarer alternative. In practice both are uncommon: writers usually keep the adjective and let the noun live elsewhere ('the acrid smell', not 'the smell's acridity'). If you need a working noun, sharpness or bitterness often reads better.
What is the difference between acrid and pungent?
The quick tell: pungent can be appetising — garlic, mustard, ripe cheese — while acrid never is; acrid always repels. The full side-by-side, with both animated scenes and the etymology of each sting, is on the acrid vs pungent page linked in the 'Compared' list above.