corrosive
nounEtymology From Old French corrosif.
1
That which has the quality of eating or wearing away gradually.
2
Any solid, liquid or gas capable of irreparably harming living tissues or damaging material on contact.
corrosive
adjUK /kəˈɹəʊsɪv/ · CA, US /kəˈɹoʊsɪv/
Etymology From Old French corrosif.
1
Eating away; having the power of gradually wearing, hanging, or destroying the texture or substance of a body; as the corrosive action of an acid.
2
Having the quality of fretting or vexing.
- Care is no cure, but corrosive.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
3
Destroying or undermining something gradually.
- Derived terms
- biocorrosive, corrosive sublimate, noncorrosive, photocorrosive, uncorrosive
- Related terms
- corrode, corrosively, corrosiveness, corrosivity