The Only Use of
acerbic
in
The Devil in the White City
- 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.†
p. 53.3
Definitions:
-
(1)
(acerbic) clever or funny, but also harsh or cruel
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, acerbic can refer to a "sour or bitter in taste".