biting

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. sharp, piercing, keen; pungent, acrid; forceful, telling.

See vigor, pungency, cold.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Acidulous]

Syn. sharp, keen, tangy, stinging; see acid 2 , sour 1 .

2. [In the act of biting]

Syn. seizing, wounding, abrading, piercing, puncturing, incising, lacerating, holding, tasting, masticating, mangling, nipping, nibbling, snapping, gnawing, munching, crunching, gripping, chewing, worrying, in the mouth, with teeth in, sinking teeth into, champing, chomping.

3. [Sarcastic]

Syn. caustic, cutting, acrimonious, bitter; see sarcastic .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. caustic bitter, cutting, penetrating, piercing, stinging.

2. sarcastic cutting, caustic, nasty, bitter, stinging, acerbic, scathing, sharp.

ANT.: 1. gentle, balmy, soothing

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective So sharp as to cause mental pain: acerbic, acid, acidic, acrid, astringent, caustic, corrosive, cutting, mordacious, mordant, pungent, scathing, sharp, slashing, stinging, trenchant, truculent, vitriolic. See ATTACK, RESPECT.