This week's theme: words from chemistry. vitriolic (vi-tree-OL-ik) adjective
Extremely caustic; bitterly scathing. [From Latin vitrum (glass).] Sulfuric acid, a highly corrosive substance, was formerly known as oil of vitriol or simply vitriol. It was named vitriol owing to the glassy appearance of its salts. Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=vitriolic -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "Unlike many other districts in Ventura County, Simi Valley has suffered a steady diet of noisy board meetings, vitriolic letters to the editor and name-calling directed at board members." Mack Reed; Simi Schools in Throes of Tumult, Hope; The Los Angeles Times; Jun 2, 1996. This newsletter is made possible in part by these sponsors: Ever wonder why we don't just talk, we chew the fat? Derivation, a hilarious game about word and phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com Speak French, German, Spanish or Italian? Speak it better with Champs-Elysees audio magazines! http://ads.champs-elysees.com/wsmith2 ............................................................................ To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) Looking for word/quotation archives: http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Unsubscribe, change address, etc: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/vitriolic.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/vitriolic.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/vitriolic.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
