Word.ws English Dictionary

acerb

/əˈsɜːb/US/əˈsɜɹb/

acerb adjective: sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, such as unripe fruit.

Adjective

acerb (comparative acerber or more acerb, superlative acerbest or most acerb)

  1. (archaic) Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, such as unripe fruit.
    • If you put Spirit of Sulphur to the Peruvian Bark, it then becomes very acerb. If you mix Mercury with Spirit of Nitre or Oil of Vitriol whilst it boils, it then is very acerb.1732, Edward Strother, Prælectiones Pharmaco-mathicæ & medico-practicæ
    Synonyms:
    acerbic
  2. (archaic, figuratively) Sharp and harsh in expressing oneself.
    • As to the somewhat acerb remarks of the member for Jacques Cartier, I may pass them over […]1909, Canada. Parliament. House of Commons, Debates: Official Report, volume 1, page 1970
    Synonyms:
    acerbic

acerb meaning in Urdu, Kannada and Persian

acerb in Urdu

عیب چیں, کھٹا, تلخ, ترش

acerb in Kannada

ಬಿರು, ಬಿರುಸು

acerb in Persian

bitter to the taste
گس gas

Synonyms of acerb

Forms of acerb

comparativeacerber
comparativemore acerb
superlativeacerbest
superlativemost acerb

Origin of acerb

From Latin acerbus, from Latin ācer (“sharp”): compare French acerbe. See acrid.

Words formed from acerb

Words that rhyme with acerb

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about acerb

What does acerb mean?
Acerb means sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, such as unripe fruit.
What is acerb in Urdu?
Acerb in Urdu is عیب چیں, کھٹا, تلخ. See Acerb meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is acerb?
Acerb is an adjective.
How do you pronounce acerb?
Acerb is pronounced /əˈsɜːb/ (UK).

Words near acerb in the dictionary

  1. acerates
  2. acerathere
  3. aceratheres
  4. aceratheriin
  5. aceratheriins
  6. acerb
  7. acerbate
  8. acerbated
  9. acerbates
  10. acerbating
  11. acerbation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acerb (page history and authors); acerb (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); acerb (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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Cite this entry: “acerb.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/acerb. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.