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:
causticPlural:
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
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