Literary notes about acerb (AI summary)
Writers often employ "acerb" to convey a dual sense of bitterness—both in flavor and in tone. In one striking description, a conversation is rendered as sharply acerb as nails juxtaposed against velvet paws, evoking a physical contrast between harshness and softness ([1]). The term also colors dialogue, suggesting that even well-meant speech can carry an unexpectedly severe edge ([2], [3]). Its usage extends beyond human interactions to describe the unyielding nature of things like unripe fruit ([4]), while lexicons firmly relate it to synonyms such as acrid and bitter ([5], [6]). Together, these uses illustrate how "acerb" enriches literary language with an air of piercing intensity.
- Thereupon followed a soft discussion that was as near being acerb as nails are near velvet paws.
— from Vittoria — Complete by George Meredith - His eyes grew rather round, but Medora was smiling and had not meant the speech to be acerb.
— from Storm in a Teacup by Eden Phillpotts - Though I protest, with speech acerb; I cannot hold him, I’m afeard.
— from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, July, 1913Vol. LXXXVI. New Series: Vol. LXIV. May to October, 1913 by Various - The fruit remains acerb and hard; the tree declines to be "ameliorated" for the good of mankind.
— from Prairie Gold by Iowa Press and Authors' Club - bitter, bitterish, acrid, acerb, acerbic.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - acerbē [ acerbus ], adv., bitterly , cruelly , severely .
— from Eutropius by active 4th century Eutropius
