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How To Use Acerbic In A Sentence

  • Simon Jenkins, a columnist with the UK's Guardian recently called Zuma a rapist and a racketeer in perhaps one of the most acerbic pieces yet the Guardian has published on Zuma.
  • What is left in ‘her’ wake, however, is an acerbically astute representation of a social environment in which mothers are routinely erased, undervalued, and ‘trapped’ within the domestic milieu.
  • Acerbic performance practices and pinched, puny instrumentation made these works seem severe.
  • Effortlessly unravelling the twists and turns of medieval Italian politics, Stonor Saunders is stylish in her prose style, languid in her learning and acerbic in her judgments.
  • After the invocational four-poem opening of 'Let's Just Say,' the book moves to 'Some of These Daze,' Bernstein's prose dispatches in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and on to the acerbic intimacies of 'World on Fire,' which critiques clichés like 'what are we fighting for?' The Chicago Blog: Press Release: Bernstein, Girly Man
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  • She was not exactly your blonde bombshell type: plump, short, always casually dressed, and bitingly acerbic whenever she had the chance.
  • Known for his acerbic wit, sharp tongue, and occasional profanity, he stood out among the colorless bureaucrats who ruled Poland.
  • On stage, he's smart but unacademic; attractive yet mildly awkward; friendly but acerbic.
  • Flying on the wings of an ubiquitous electric slide guitar, a distinctive if quavering voice, and her acerbically accurate songwriting, the Ottawa songwriter has crafted what sounds suspiciously like a Canadian roots rock classic.
  • Kudos is due to Sarah Millican, whose brilliant eye for observation and viciously acerbic style gives her the chops to win over all but the most committed chauvinists. This week's new comedy
  • The cast deals admirably with a difficult script which is peppered with acerbic one-liners and wonderfully witty wisecracks.
  • She was reportedly a tough character, bitterly acerbic and tragically alcoholic.
  • But anecdotal and scattershot as it may be, it's also one of the most acerbically amusing books ever written on bars and gives one a real appreciation of saloon talk. The All-American Place
  • ‘Because I'm one of the things that's being negotiated,’ I said acerbically, with my tone as much a grudge toward him as bitterness at being in my position.
  • He is known for his acerbic wit and his mean streak.
  • The play's most penetrating moments occur when Ensler veils her disgust and sorrow at the lengths some women will go to to achieve physical perfection, under a veneer of sharp characterisation and acerbic wit.
  • No trouble if you can pay through the nose and leave our honoured government all your property," Thomas commented acerbically. DREAMS OF INNOCENCE
  • His question wasn't acerbic, but quite inquisitive.
  • The most acerbically incisive advice comes from British author Will Self. We don’t need no stinking rules « Write Anything
  • Crime makes an easy political issue, and there could well be a contest for who can offer the toughest line, and who most acerbically will apportion blame.
  • The sonata is a major work that combines the young composer's acerbic wit and uncompromising harmonic astringency with a lyrical bent and cross-cultural echoes of Far Eastern musical modes.
  • As the exuberant Ford encores with the roistering folk-punk of Nothing at All and his acerbic signature tune, Cheer Up (You Miserable Fuck), it's clear that he is an artist deserving of a far wider audience. David Ford
  • Even as he held magisterial power over the audience (he asked for quiet and got it) during the autobiographical ‘Freehold,’ Springsteen offered not an oversincere paean to his hometown but an acerbically funny look at small-town life.
  • Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer Prize for "Rabbit Hole," his absorbing study of a grieving family that became a movie with Nicole Kidman, is working in a more acerbically comic vein in "Good People," the story of McDormand's Margaret Walsh, a hard-luck single mom and lifelong denizen of heavily Irish working-class South Boston. In New York, 'Good People' a sign of hope for this theater season
  • Thomas's witty and sometimes acerbic voice became the other side of her inner dialogue.
  • As the Washington Post's Hank Stuever acerbically wrote last week about the current season: It's all bunnies, baby dolls and broads – and bridezillas and bimbos, if you get into reality TV. The Playboy Club: men only
  • If you're not familiar with the show, House is a brilliant but acerbic diagnostician who can solve cases others can't. Management
  • The acerbic Australian, equally at home dissecting serious cultural issues and Japanese endurance game shows, will be reading from his new collection of essays and dispensing bons mots, acid witticisms and Antipodean insights.
  • And when the junketeers provide the studios with endless streams of negative, acerbic criticism, the studios readily invite them to the next junket and the next junket, where they can live for free and ask dumb questions of famous people.
  • Cue much acerbic observation of the modern marriage. Times, Sunday Times
  • All of this belies the jocular public persona he presents - the outspoken larrikin with an acerbic wit, strong views, a black sense of humour, a love of food and old American cars, and a loathing of sport.
  • The rest includes a number of brief curiosities he claims to have written in his sleep, an sfnal abecedary, amusements at the expense of Picasso and one of the field's prominent editors, and more (over seventy items in all), all deft and witty and many of them blessed with an acerbic bite. Analog Science Fiction and Fact
  • You should have a sassy woman who knows her food but also has acerbic comments to make about corporate America and the food industry.
  • Written with erudition and firm, if sometimes quirky, opinion, the book is interlarded with humor and acerbic comment.
  • ‘No, so it would appear,’ he retorts acerbically.
  • I love his acerbic humour and his cynicism. The Sun
  • His sister said he was quiet by nature with an acerbic wit.
  • This is like Shostakovich without his satiric, acerbic side.
  • To this end, helpful responses are mildly sardonic, while acerbic comments are scathing, derisive insults.
  • ‘Much effort will be given to unteaching that which is not true,’ he wrote acerbically.
  • He is good company, a man of great intelligence and broad knowledge, good humour and acerbic wit.
  • He instantly wished he could take back the acerbic comment.
  • After it he'd become withdrawn and moody, his formerly friendly nature turning acerbic and harsh.
  • At that time, Mao Zedong (already in ideological conflict with the Soviet Union) insisted to Soviet Communist Party chief Nikita Khruschchev, who was inclined towards "polycentrism" within the "world communist movement", that the Soviet Union should remain officially at its doctrinal head: leading the latter acerbically to retort, Asia Times Online
  • She expresses it in her typically acerbically entertaining way.
  • The wicked mix of an acerbic tongue and a winning smile means holding grudges is nigh impossible.
  • It is much better than the sometimes tepid and unfunny offerings in this slot, with snappy, acerbic dialogue. Times, Sunday Times
  • My Criminal Law professor, Steve Duke, was a witty, acerbic man and a fine teacher with whom I later did a seminar on white-collar crime.
  • ‘Much effort will be given to unteaching that which is not true,’ he wrote acerbically.
  • Thomas's witty and sometimes acerbic voice became the other side of her inner dialogue.
  • In this novel, Beverly Lamark is a successful mystery writer with a quick temper and acerbic wit.
  • He is no less acerbic when pondering under what extraordinary circumstances Trevor Sinclair came to be picked for the England football team, an animadversion with which all right-thinking fans concur.
  • Back in January, when it began to snow, I made some acerbic comment that all the 4x4 drivers will be coming into their own.
  • For more than 50 years he has brought to the Bar his consummate advocacy skills combined with an acerbic wit and a sharp legal mind…
  • ‘The names engraved in gold inside it’, he notes acerbically, ‘are supposed to inspire veneration and awe, not to motivate the young to examine the lives of the named individuals with curiosity and patience’.
  • The author's uncompromising critical insights and acerbic style, both humorous and original, make the reading of this work a feast for both the mind and soul.
  • Relocated temporarily to Los Angeles, the acerbic videomaker says (jokingly, we hope) that this is his final video.
  • The actor was as famous for his fast living, hard drinking, and acerbic wit as for his performances.
  • Marrying thought provoking lyrics with great melodies and his trademark acoustic guitar playing, his music is underlined with an acerbic and sometimes sarcastic wit.
  • After it he'd become withdrawn and moody, his formerly friendly nature turning acerbic and harsh.
  • Ed is known for his acerbic wit and often outlandish and controversial commentary.
  • He is sharp and acerbic and readily entertains.
  • Then, the financial jest with acerbic only zealous those past economist, what had become American at one's leisure today is newfangled.
  • Acerbic, sharp-witted and adroit at playing any instrument ever invented, he transformed the image of pre-mediaeval music from scholarly study to sheer fun.
  • Should they hesitate on rapidly providing the details, The Man firmly and acerbically reminds them to ante them up--fast! Bill Robinson: New Media: Take A Seat In the Booth at the End
  • Patrick Smith's "Passage to Peking" Oxford University Press, 591 pages, $34.95 , an acerbic and fair-minded study, examines an obscure historical episode from 1954, when left-wing sympathizers from the Labour Party set off to visit Mao's China, a trip that would likely never have taken place if not for what Mr. Smith calls the "affronted patriotism" of the British in the face of American power. They Never Got Over Yorktown
  • The former chief executive of a rival offered an acerbic assessment. Times, Sunday Times
  • He has a lazy, matey sort of north London accent, longingly smokes each cigarette, as if it is his last, and has an acerbic wit, usually directed against himself.
  • ‘Yes, and I'm sure that's why Shawn's blood is all over the floor,’ the vice principal said acerbically.
  • He is a very ingenious and cunning writer and it's fun to see him skewer the targets he aims for with acerbic wit and intelligence.
  • Just as you begin to expect the plot to become sodden with tragedy – a child coughs continuously from a bedroom; a young man squares up to his flighty wife with a knife – it slips into something more acerbic. Men Should Weep; Blasted; When We Are Married
  • As a sufferer of chronic pain, she is acerbic, bitter and savagely funny. Times, Sunday Times
  • Good bloggers tend to be acerbic, prolific, polemical, and good in short spurts.
  • The old man never once turned around to look at the speaker, but his reply was undeniably acerbic in nature.
  • Through their bracing and often witty interplay -- the American has the checkbook and the weapons, plus a pop culture that enthralls and blinds; the humiliated, acerbic Brit "facilitates"; the Russian waxes Dostoevskian -- we can understand why historically Afghanistan has proved "the graveyard of empires. Carla Seaquist: Why Can't Art Be Instructive?
  • A slow opening track, it reflects a reminiscent and reflective mood created by the atmospheric soundscape style of slow balalaika sounding guitars, heavy cymbal use, and acerbic but complementary vocals heard throughout the album.
  • Dr Starkey, famed for his acerbic comments on shows such as BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze and BBC One's Question Time, said: One-nation Toryism is a term bandied around a very great deal at the moment... BBC News - Home
  • Why the need for such acerbic comments? Times, Sunday Times
  • The book is funny, sad, gentle, acerbic, enriching, and devastating. LOVE YOU MADLY
  • Written with erudition and firm, if sometimes quirky, opinion, the book is interlarded with humor and acerbic comment.
  • As a comedy writer, she has a gift for acerbic insight - the kind of funny that hurts.
  • She's acerbically witty, wickedly honest, appealingly irreverent and just plain smart. Debra Ollivier: Funny, Filthy, and Smart: Sandra Tsing Loh Meets Sarah Silverman
  • Paxman said yesterday that he was undecided whether to persist with his new appearance but, in typically acerbic fashion, accused his employers of pogonophobia - a fear of beards.
  • She replied acerbically: ‘Once you've lived through the diagnosis, the worst is behind you.’
  • His prose is peppered with acerbic wit and keen insight.
  • The painting is a snob; he knows his own worth and beauty, his voice is funny and wonderfully acerbic. Times, Sunday Times
  • Full of my usual razor sharp wit and acerbic commentary coupled with pithy, erudite and provoking insights into the unfolding world about me.
  • His style is acerbic, his humour disquiets, his directness can shock.
  • Traditionally it was an area of peasant insurrectionists, schismatics, and sectarians whose acerbic style was reflected in Lenin's own.
  • Some lower clergy acerbically accused members of the hierarchy of ‘collaboration’ with the intelligence agencies of the former communist state.
  • The cast deals admirably with a difficult script which is peppered with acerbic one-liners and wonderfully witty wisecracks, characteristic of Marber's earlier comedy.
  • Traditionally it was an area of peasant insurrectionists, schismatics, and sectarians whose acerbic style was reflected in Lenin's own.
  • They are also full of gossipy anecdotes recounted in his saucy and acerbic style.
  • ‘Sorry, Montgomery, I'm not used to looking for them,’ Jessie says acerbically.
  • an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose
  • I nearly offered my usual acerbic response of ‘And your point is, exactly?’
  • Some were grateful for the advice; others were amused, acerbic, occasionally even dyspeptic.
  • The letter was written in her usual acerbic style.
  • Acerbic and subjective he was, but also candid and uncompromising.
  • Stephen Russell, reprising his role as Garrett, is just as sharp, cynical and acerbic as ever, and his delivery is simply perfect, conveying the disdain and annoyance with the world around him.
  • His ready wit could become very sharp and acerbic. Times, Sunday Times
  • He had been impressed by the quality of her writing, by the irony and acerbic humor that enlivened her copy. O: A Presidential Novel
  • Her acerbic dose of skepticism, even if overdrawn at times, is a welcome panacea to the fetishization of parenting. In Praise of the Mediocre Mother
  • It was then I discovered that our quiet chief sub was wickedly funny, totally irreverent, often cynical and very acerbic when occasion demanded it.
  • He takes his shots at me, but he has an acerbic, curmudgeonly style that gives me a laugh and he happily owns up to his prejudices.
  • He acerbically points out that women, slaves and colonized peoples did not need to wait a few hundred years for postmodern thinkers to insist that a supposedly universal modernity had excluded and subjugated them.
  • Although I wouldn't put it anywhere near as acerbically as the Professor, he undoubtedly has a point.
  • Jeff and the tenacious Steve - who had continued to make acerbic comments about her the whole evening - sat in the two recliners on either side of the couch.
  • Witty, clever, biting, acerbic (in a good way), and never afraid to put the smackdown on anybody - she keeps Filmbrain on his toes.
  • ‘I can see the headlines now,’ he said acerbically.
  • Ericka" is a stunning solo outing for Mitchell, highlighting his acerbic yet warm tone. Destination: OUT
  • Indeed, the question of his resignation was obliquely hinted at during occasionally acerbic Commons exchanges.
  • Expect plinky music and ever more sophisticated pixel work, pumped with lashings of acerbic wit. Times, Sunday Times
  • This is a remarkably candid self-assessment from a legendarily prickly man of whom his own ex-wife once acerbically observed: ‘His self-regard was easily punctured and his reaction was protracted and troublesome.’
  • ‘If you're looking for your grandparents, they left,’ she informed me acerbically.
  • He can be an acerbic critic. Times, Sunday Times
  • And so far, he's the only one doing the provoking, I thought acerbically.
  • Its anarchic anti-hero and pointed cadences echo the cinema of discontent that flourished in the late 1960s and '70s—acerbic, theatrical exorcisms in which dialogue served as caustic societal critique. Cooking Up Something Tasty
  • He has a lazy, matey sort of north London accent, longingly smokes each cigarette, as if it is his last, and has an acerbic wit, usually directed against himself.
  • What's interesting is not that this attribution is wrong, but that it's so precisely wrong: that quote embodies the opposite of Twain's acerbic, self-deprecating, winkingly ironic wit. This column will change your life: The wit and wisdom of Mark Twain
  • Thinly veiled insults and acerbic comments are the tools of his or her trade.

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