Caustic Definition
kôstĭk
adjective
That can burn, eat away, or destroy tissue by chemical action; corrosive.
Webster's New World
Cutting or sarcastic in utterance; biting.
Webster's New World
Given to making caustic remarks.
A caustic TV commentator.
American Heritage
Designating or of the curved radial surface, or a plane curve in this surface, formed by the reflection or refraction of rays from a curved solid surface.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
noun
Any caustic substance, esp. caustic soda.
Webster's New World
A caustic surface or curve.
Webster's New World
The enveloping surface formed by light rays reflecting or refracting from a curved surface, especially one with spherical aberration.
American Heritage
Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
Wiktionary
(mathematics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays for a given curve.
Wiktionary
Other Word Forms of Caustic
Noun
Singular:
caustic
Plural:
causticsOrigin of Caustic
Middle English caustik from Latin causticus from Greek kaustikos from kaustos from kaiein kau- to burn
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From the Greek καυστός (kaustos, “burnt”), via the Latin causticus (“burning”).
From Wiktionary
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to caustic using the buttons below.