vitriolic
/ˌvɪtrɪˈɒlɪk
/adjective
Filled with bitter criticism or malice: vitriolic attacks on the politicians vitriolic outbursts...
- She has been on the receiving end of other withering and vitriolic attacks from women columnists.
- An irascible bachelor, he was often vitriolic in his criticism of the work of other artists, and jealous of their successes.
- It's the kind of thing where other people's vitriolic criticism of it makes me suspect I'll really like it.
Synonyms
acrimonious, rancorous, bitter, caustic, mordant, acerbic, astringent, acid, acrid, trenchant, virulent, spiteful, crabbed, savage, venomous, poisonous, malicious, malignant, malign, pernicious, splenetic;
nasty, mean, cruel, unkind, harsh, ill-natured, evil-intentioned, vindictive, scathing, searing, biting, barbed, wounding, stinging, tart, sharp, rapier-like, razor-edged, cutting, withering, sarcastic, sardonic, irascible
informal bitchy, catty, slashing
literary malefic, maleficent
rare acidulous, mordacious, squint-eyed
Derivatives
vitriolically
- Green's arrogant belief that he has been dragged down by his environment and peers leads him to vitriolically reject the class he was born into.
- The only problem I have with this vitriolically elegant production is its speed: this brittle, precise text mustn't be rushed.
- His writing is lethally sharp and vitriolically funny: the jagged aggressiveness of American speech moulded almost into poetry.