Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definitions: Caustic |
CausticAdjective1. Harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation". 2. Of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action. Noun1. Any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "caustic" was first used: 14th century. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Health | An escharotic or corrosive agent. Called also cauterant. (references) |
Mining | Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substanceby chemical action; burning; corrosive. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: CausticSynonyms: acerb (adj), acerbic (adj), acid (adj), acrid (adj), bitter (adj), blistering (adj), corrosive (adj), erosive (adj), sulfurous (adj), sulphurous (adj), venomous (adj), virulent (adj), vitriolic (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bitterness | Noun: bitterness, acridness, acridity, acrimony; caustic, alkali; acerbity; gall, wormwood; bitters, astringent bitters. |
Calefaction | Cauterizer; caustic, lunar caustic, alkali, apozem, moxa; acid, aqua fortis, aqua regia; catheretic, nitric acid, nitrochloro-hydric acid, nitromuriatic acid; radioactivity, gamma rays, alpha particles, beta rays, X-rays, radiation, cosmic radiation, background radiation, radioactive isotopes, tritium, uranium, plutonium, radon, radium. |
Curvature | Carve, arc, arch, arcade, vault, bow, crescent, half-moon, lunule, horseshoe, loop, crane neck; parabola, hyperbola; helix, spiral; catenary, festoon; conchoid, cardioid; caustic; tracery; arched ceiling, arched roof; bay window, bow window. |
Discourtesy | Taint, sour, crabbed, sharp, short, trenchant, sarcastic, biting, doggish, caustic, virulent, bitter, acrimonious, venomous, contumelious; snarling; Verb: surly, surly as a bear; perverse; grim, sullen; a; peevish; (irascible). |
Feeling | Warm, quick, lively, smart, strong, sharp, acute, cutting, piercing, incisive; keen, keen as a razor; trenchant, pungent, racy, piquant, poignant, caustic. |
Malevolence | Malicious; malign, malignant; rancorous; despiteful, spiteful; mordacious, caustic, bitter, envenomed, acrimonious, virulent; unamiable, uncharitable; maleficent, venomous, grinding, galling. |
Pain | Sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic; cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing; envenomed; catheretic, pyrotic. |
Physical Energy | Rousing, irritation; poignant; virulent, caustic, corrosive, mordant, harsh, stringent; double-edged, double-shotted, double-distilled; drastic, escharotic; racy; (pungent). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Caption: Primary Battery Caustic Soda Dept; Silver Lake, NJ; September 24, 1912; {10.370/43} (jpg). | ![]() | Pittsburgh Plate Glass Chlorine Plant, New Martinsville, West Virginia. Caustic building, crystallizer.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Australia | Key product segments are chlorine, titanium oxide, sodium cyanide, ammonia (industrial), caustic soda, sulphuric acid, and soda ash. (references) |
Qatar | Objectives: To produce ethylene di-chloride (EDC) 175,000 mtpa, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) 230,000 mtpa and caustic soda 290,000 mtpa. (references) | |
Pakistan | Local production of chemicals largely is confined to soda ash, caustic soda, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, sodium bicarbonate, liquid chlorine, aluminum sulfate, carbon black, acetone and acetic acid. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Caustic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.44% of the time. "Caustic" is used about 192 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.44% | 189 | 22,353 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.04% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.52% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 192 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| India | Bihar Caustic & Chemicals Ltd. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "caustic": caustic alkali ♦ caustic ammonia ♦ Caustic curve ♦ caustic lime ♦ caustic potash ♦ caustic remark ♦ Caustic silver ♦ caustic soda ♦ caustic solution ♦ Caustic surface ♦ caustic tongue ♦ lunar caustic ♦ Vienna caustic ♦ white caustic. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "caustic": caustic-soda, caustic-tongued. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
caustic soda | 92 | caustic flake potash | 3 |
caustic | 38 | caustic manufacturer soda | 3 |
caustic christ | 9 | caustic price soda | 3 |
caustic chemical descaling | 8 | caustic definition | 2 |
caustic soda flake | 7 | caustic scrubber | 2 |
caustic ingestion | 7 | caustic chemical | 2 |
caustic potash | 7 | caustic pearl soda | 2 |
caustic resin | 5 | caustic chart flow production soda | 2 |
caustic truth | 4 | caustic msds | 2 |
caustic soda use | 4 | caustic soda bead | 2 |
caustic chart diagram flow production soda | 4 | bluing caustic hot | 2 |
caustic msds soda | 4 | boiler caustic corrosion | 2 |
acid caustic | 4 | caustic wholesaler | 2 |
caustic production soda | 3 | caustic solution | 2 |
caustic liquid soda | 3 | 25 caustic soda solution | 2 |
burn caustic | 3 | ||
25 caustic soda solution | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "caustic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | thumbues (biting, stinging), therës (acid, acidly, acrimonious, acute, biting, butcher, cutting, dry, epigrammatic, executioner, exquisite, incisive, keen, nippy, penetrating, peppery, piercing, poignant, sharp, sharp cut, stinging, trenchant), thep (bead, fidget, jag, sharp, viperous), sarkazëm (sarcasm, vitriol), lëndë gërryese (corrodent, corrosive), kaustik, helm (bane, causticity, gall, poison, toxic, venom), gërryes (abradant, abrasive, corrodent, corroding, corrosive, erosive, wasting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كاو (mordant), مادة كاوية, لاذع (acerb, acid, acrid, acrimonious, biting, bitter, bitterly, burning, cutting, harsh, hot, keen, mordant, nippy, peppery, piquant, poignant, pungent, rough, salty, sarcastic, savory, savoury, scathing, scorching, sharp, sharp tongued, smarting, snappish, snappy, spicy, spiteful, stinging, tart, waspish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | разяждащ (cankerous, corrosive, mordant, vitriolic), хаплив (acerb, acerbic, acidulous, mordant, peppery, poignant, pungent, scratchy, severe, shrewd, tart), каустичен, каустика, каустик, вещество което разяжда, изгарящ (scorching). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 刻薄 (Caustical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | sžíravý (abrasive, blistering, mordant, savage), leptavý (corrosive), kousavý (acerbic, acrid, barbed, bitchy, biting, cutting, dry, pointed, scathing, snappy, tart, vitriolic, waspish), kaustický, žíravý (mordant, vitriolic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | kaustika, kausticum (caustic substance, caustics, etching materials), ætsende (corrosive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | caustisch (caustic substance), causticus, bijtend (abrasive, corrosive, lurid, sharp). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | هجوامیز, تیز (Acute, Bitter, Brisk, Glassy, Hot, Incisive, Keen, Pike, Poignant, Pointy, Pungent, Sharp, Shrill, Trenchant), تند (Discourteous, Fast, Glassy, Harsh, Hasty, Headlong, Heady, Hot, Inflammable, Intensive, Keen, Paregoric, Peppery, Presto, Pungent, Quick, Racy, Rapid, Rash, Slush, Sour, Spicy, Tart, Transient, Violent, Virulent, Wrench, Yare), سوزش اور (Abrasive, Irritant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | syövyttävä aine (caustic substance, corrosive), kaustinen aine (caustic substance). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | caustique (caustic substance). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | ätzend (acid, acrid, acridly, cauterizing, choking, corrosive, erosive, lousy, mordacious, mordant, pungent), kaustisch. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καυστικός (caustic substance, tart). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מאכל (corroding, corrosive, dish, eating, food, repast), צורב י (acrimonious), צורב (biting, bitter, burning). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | maró (acrimonious, biting, corrodent, corrosive, lashing, mordant, nipping, poignant, scathing, shrewd, virulent), epés (acrimonious, bilious, jaundiced, liverish, venomous, virulent), égető (acute, burner, burning, exigent, searing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | zat yang dapat membakar kulit, pedas (acrid, hot, poignant, pungent, seasoned). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | caustico (caustic substance, mordacious, mordant, scathing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 苛性 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | かせい (assistance, backing, change, clearing of the river water, despotism, false, falsetto, force of flames, great poet, growth, honour of the family, household economy, Mars, metamorphosis, reinforcements, section system, transformation, tyranny). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 부식성 (Caustical, Corrosive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | loshtagh (burning, inflammable, lion's mane, smarting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | austiccay caústico, cáustico (corrosive, mordacious, pepper, pungent, tart, virulent), cáustico. (various references) corosiv (biting, corrosive, cutting), caustic (acerb, acid, acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, biting, mordant, personal, pungent, pungently, scathing, scorching), substanţã causticã, sarcastic (acrid, biting, caustically, cynical, lashing, mordacious, sarcastic, sarcastically, sardonic, satiric, severe, sharp, sneering, tart, taunting), muşcãtor (acid, acrid, acrimonious, biting, mordant, peppery, sarcastic, snappish), ţepos (hirsute, rough, spiky, spiny, stinging, thorny). (various references) едкий (acerb, acerbic, acrid, biting, corrosive, mordant, poignant, pungent, scalding, scathing, sulphurous, tart, vitriolic). (various references) zajedljivost (acridity, mordacity, poignancy), kaustičan, jetkost (acridity, acrimony, sourness), jetka materija, jedak (acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, astringent, biting, bitter, scathing, sharp, sour, vitriolic). (various references) cáustico (acrid, acrimonious, biting, caustic substance, mordacious, scathing, vitriolic). (various references) brännande (ardent, burning, crucial, fiery, parching, searing, sharp, vital). (various references) สารที่ใช้ละลายสารอื่น, ซึ่งสามารถทำลายหรือกั"กร่อนไ"้, ซึ่งถากถาง. (various references) yakıcı madde, kostik, kezzap (aqua fortis, nitric acid, vitriol). (various references) уїдливість (acridity, acrimony, causticity, cavil, jibe, mordacity, taunt), уїдливий (acid, acrid, acrimonious, arrowy, barbed, biting, carping, cattish, epigrammatic, exceptive, fault finding, mordacious, mordant, pointed, smart, spiteful, waspish, waspy), ущипливий (acid, acrid, acrimonious, arrowy, barbed, cutting, nipping, pointed, stinging, tart), сарказм (sarcasm, squib), їдка речовина (corrosive), їдкий (acid, acrid, acrimonious, corrosive, nipping, poignant, scalding, scathing), руйнівний (abolitionary, consumptive, destructive, deteriorative, erosive, exterminatory, holocaustal, holocaustic, ruinous, shattering, subversive, wrecking), що роз'їда" (cankerous, corrodent, rodent), колючий (arrowy, barbed, briery, bristling, cutting, prickly, pricky, punching, spiky, spiny, thistly, thorny), каустичний, дошкульність (mordacity). (various references) châm biếm; cay độc (caustically). (various references) cignoeth. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | kaustikos. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "caustic": caustically, causticities, causticity, caustics. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "caustic": encaustic. (additional references) | |
Words containing "caustic": encaustics. (additional references) | |
| |
"Caustic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: accustic, acustic, austic, Austick, caotic, causic, caust, caustick, cauti, cautic, clausit, Cosstick, costic, Costica, Coulstock, kaustos, Kostick, Kostika, kosutic, suastic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "caustic" (pronounced kÄ"stik) |
| 5 | -Ä" s t i k | agnostic, diagnostic. |
| 4 | -s t i k | acoustic, altruistic, anachronistic, antagonistic, artistic, atavistic, atheistic, autistic, ballistic, bombastic, capitalistic, characteristic, chauvinistic, coloristic, cystic, deterministic, domestic, drastic, drumstick, dualistic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, elastic, enthusiastic, euphemistic, evangelistic, expressionistic, fantastic, fatalistic, feudalistic, futuristic, gymnastic, hedonistic, holistic, humanistic, iconoclastic, idealistic, imperialistic, impressionistic, individualistic, inelastic, interscholastic, jingoistic, journalistic, legalistic, linguistic, logistic, majestic, masochistic, materialistic, mechanistic, militaristic, monastic, monopolistic, moralistic, mystic, narcissistic, nationalistic, naturalistic, novelistic, oligopolistic, onomastic, opportunistic, optimistic, pantheistic, paternalistic, patristic, pessimistic, plastic, pluralistic, polytheistic, primitivistic, propagandistic, puristic, realistic, relativistic, ritualistic, rustic, sadistic, sarcastic, scholastic, sensationalistic, simplistic, socialistic, statistic, stylistic, surrealistic, synergistic, terroristic, thermoplastic, uncharacteristic, unenthusiastic, unrealistic, voyeuristic. |
| 3 | -t i k | acetic, acrobatic, aerobatic, aesthetic, alphabetic, amniotic, analytic, anesthetic, Antarctic, antibiotic, antic, anticlimactic, antiseptic, aortic, apathetic, apocalyptic, apologetic, apoplectic, aquatic, arctic, aristocratic, arithmetic, aromatic, arthritic, ascetic, asthmatic, astronautic, asymptomatic, athletic, attic, authentic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, bureaucratic, catalytic, cathartic, chaotic, charismatic, chiropractic, cinematic, climactic, climatic, cosmetic, critic, cryptic, cultic, democratic, dendritic, despotic, diabetic, diagrammatic, dialectic, diamagnetic, didactic, dietetic, diplomatic, diuretic, dogmatic, dramatic, eclectic, ecliptic, ecstatic, electrolytic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, emblematic, emetic, empathetic, emphatic, energetic, enigmatic, enzymatic, epigenetic, epileptic, erotic, erratic, exotic, extragalactic, fanatic, ferromagnetic, fiberoptic, frantic, frenetic, galactic, genetic, geomagnetic, gigantic, granitic, halophytic, hectic, hemolytic, hepatic, heretic, hermaphroditic, homeostatic, homiletic, hyperkinetic, hypnotic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, idiotic, kinesthetic, kinetic, lactic, lymphatic, magnetic, mathematic, melodramatic, monochromatic, narcotic, neritic, neurotic, numismatic, operatic, optic, orthodontic, pancreatic, paralytic, paramagnetic, parasitic, parasympathetic, parthenogenetic, pathetic, patriotic, pectic, pedantic, peptic, peripatetic, phonetic, phosphatic, pneumatic, poetic, porphyritic, posttraumatic, pragmatic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, prophetic, prophylactic, prostatic, prosthetic, psychoanalytic, psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic, psychotic, quixotic, rheumatic, robotic, romantic, schematic, semantic, semiautomatic, semiotic, septic, skeptic, static, sycophantic, symbiotic, sympathetic, symptomatic, synthetic, systematic, tactic, technocratic, thematic, theocratic, therapeutic, thrombolytic, transatlantic, traumatic, triptych, unapologetic, unauthentic, undemocratic, undiplomatic, unpatriotic, unsympathetic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-i-s-t-u" | |
-1 letter: cactus. | |
-2 letters: cacti, cutis, ictus, scuta. | |
-3 letters: acts, aits, asci, cast, cats, cist, cuts, sati, scat, scut, suit, taus, tics, tuis, utas. | |
-4 letters: act, ais, ait, cat, cis, cut, its, sac, sat, sau, sic, sit, tas, tau, tic, tis, tui, uta, uts. | |
-5 letters: ai, as, at, is, it, si, ta, ti, us, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-i-s-t-u" | |
+1 letter: acoustic, caustics. | |
+2 letters: acoustics, casuistic, encaustic, subarctic, succinate. | |
+3 letters: accusation, accusative, acoustical, caducities, causticity, circulates, encaustics, inculcates, practicums, subarctics, succinates. | |
+4 letters: accountings, accusations, accusatives, accustoming, acoustician, acquiescent, autocracies, buccinators, caricatures, casuistical, caustically, circulators, contumacies, coruscating, coruscation, cunctations, disaccustom, eucharistic, excruciates, fasciculate, inculcators, inductances, obscurantic, occupations, sacculation, subcortical, subcritical. | |
+5 letters: acoustically, acousticians, acquittances, articulacies, bioacoustics, calculations, caricaturist, causticities, charcuteries, chauvinistic, circulations, circumstance, coadjutrices, cocultivates, coeducations, communicants, communicates, conjunctivas, continuances, contumacious, coruscations, disaccustoms, fasciculated, inculcations, miscalculate, occultations, pectinaceous, plutocracies, recirculates, reluctancies, sacculations, sansculottic, secularistic, subantarctic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)43 61 75 73 74 69 63 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.-. .- ..- ... - .. -.-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01100011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)C a u s t i c |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0043 0061 0075 0073 0074 0069 0063 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)37678785867569 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Company Usage | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.