acerbic

in a sentence

"Handling does seem to have a way of eclipsing breeding," she said acerbically.†  (source) Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow, 2016

I shouldn't be seen with two white guys," Cedric says acerbically.†  (source) Ron Suskind, A Hope in the Unseen, 1998

He teases her by saying that in that case it would be sinful of him to marry at all, since to do so would amount to matricide; and he adds — to soften the acerbity — that he can do much better without a wife than without a mother, and especially such a perfect mother as herself; at which she gives him a sharp look which tells him she knows several tricks worth two of that, and is not deceived.†  (source) Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace, 1996

"Thanks so much," I said, my voice acerbic.†  (source) Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, 2005

As I say this I realize the acerbity of the words but somehow don't regret them.†  (source) William Styron, Sophie's Choice, 1976

Terry was rough, he was surly, he was colloquial, he despised many fine and gracious things, he offended many fine and gracious people, but these acerbities made up the haircloth robe wherewith he defended a devotion to such holy work as no cowled monk ever knew.†  (source) Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith, 1925

he remembered the dry, acerbic-acidic taste of the first glass and opening his travel bag and looking at his plane ticket back to New York;†  (source) Stephen King, Misery, 1987

Mallinson, who had been somberly enduring these pleasantries, now interposed with something of the shrill acerbity of the barrack square.†  (source) James Hilton, Lost Horizon, 1933

my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy!†  (source) Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851

Olmsted had a reputation for brilliance and tireless devotion to his work—but also for an acerbic candor that emerged most predictably in the presence of men who failed to understand that what he sought to create were not flower beds and ornamental gardens but expanses of scenery full of mystery, shadow, and sun-stippled ground.†  (source) Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, 2003

It is serious, but free from acerbity.†  (source) Herman Melville, Billy Budd, 1924

Dr. Randolph Gates found a relentless wave on which to ride, a mellifluous voice with which to speak, and a growing acerbic vocabulary to match the dawning new era.†  (source) Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Ultimatum, 1990

He saw the two pictures together with somewhat the same primitive exaltation—two games he had played, differing in quality of acerbity, linked in a way that differed them from Rosalind or the subject of labyrinths which were, after all, the business of life.†  (source) F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, 1920