lexicow

acrid

/ˈækrɪd//ˈækrɪd/·adjective
I watch the damp wood catch, and instead of a clean flame it throws up a thick, rolling smoke that leans straight across to where I stand. There is no getting out from under it — it pours into my face, my eyes flood and clamp shut, and a hand goes up, uselessly, to fan it off. I turn my head aside and still it comes. Nothing has touched me; the smoke alone, dense and reeking, wrings the tears out and scrapes at the back of the throat.
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Definition

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.

Examples

  • The acrid smoke from the burning tyres made the firefighters' eyes water and would not dilute even in the open air.
  • Critics found her tone needlessly acrid, though the argument beneath it was hard to refute.
  • An acrid haze can linger over a city for days after a wildfire.

Collocations

an acrid smell·acrid smoke·an acrid taste·acrid fumes·a faintly acrid tone

Synonyms

pungent·bitter·caustic·sharp·harsh

Antonyms

sweet·fragrant·mild

Word family

acridity (noun)·acridly (adverb)

In TOEFL & 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.