acerbity
nounUK /əˈsɜːbɪti/ · CA, US /əˈsɝbɪti/
Etymology Borrowed from French acerbité, from Latin acerbitās (“acerbity; harshness”), from acerbus (“bitter”). See acerb.
1
Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
2
Figuratively Harshness, bitterness, or severity.
- acerbity of temper, of language, of pain
- “Well ?” I repeated with some acerbity. I had been wondering for the last ten minutes how many more knots he would manage to make in that same bit of string before he actually started undoing them again.1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 1, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
3
Something harsh (e.g. a remark, act or experience).
- […] the recollection of that yesterday […] made him bear with the meekness and patience of a true-hearted man all the worrying little acerbities of to-day;1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 16, in Mary Barton, volume 2, London: Chapman and Hall, page 222:
- This opera was mainly in the style of late Puccini, with acerbities stolen from Stravinsky.1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 21, in Earthly Powers, Penguin, published 1981, page 115: