acrid
Americanadjective
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sharp or biting to the taste or smell; bitterly pungent; irritating to the eyes, nose, etc..
acrid smoke from burning rubber.
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extremely or sharply stinging or bitter; exceedingly caustic.
acrid remarks.
adjective
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unpleasantly pungent or sharp to the smell or taste
-
sharp or caustic, esp in speech or nature
Other Word Forms
- acridity noun
- acridly adverb
- acridness noun
- subacrid adjective
- subacridity noun
- subacridly adverb
- subacridness noun
Etymology
Origin of acrid
1705–15; < Latin ācr- (stem of ācer ) sharp, sour + -id 4, perhaps through influence of acid
Explanation
Acrid is almost always used to describe a smell, and it ain't a pretty one. Acrid is the nasty sting that you feel in your nose when you walk by a building that just burned down — it's sulfur mixed with smoke. You can also use acrid to describe someone's tone or general demeanor when they are being nasty. Someone about to do something evil might first give an acrid sneer, or speak in a chillingly acrid tone of voice, or even shudder as if they'd just bit into something with an acrid taste.
Vocabulary lists containing acrid
Lord of the Flies
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Burnt garlic is acrid and unforgiving; here, it should dissolve into the base of the sauce, barely visible but deeply present.
From Salon • Apr. 7, 2026
At the Chhath festivities too, firecrackers lit up the sky, leaving the air acrid with the smell of burnt sulphur.
From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025
The last was in July 2023, when a colleague complained of an acrid or vomit-like smell and was struggling to breathe as their aircraft taxied down the runway.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 14, 2025
I pull on PPE and head toward the devastating pile, that acrid post-fire odor still evident.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2025
A few moments later, during which Harry waited with his hand upon the doorknob, there came a loud bang and a great deal of acrid black smoke billowed from a corner.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
